Frontal progression of a juxtaposed ice cover on the Elbe river

The passage of ice pans and the process of forming an ice cover on the Elbe river during winter 1996/1997 is described. The assumption of advecting ice pans, which assemble to a solid juxtaposed ice cover, yields a quantitative expression for the speed of the frontal progression of the ice front upriver. Observations along the Elbe river in the winter 1996/1997 over a distance of nearly 250 kin, show that the progression speed indicates a consolidation by a factor of 1.27 when ice floes collide into and extend the ice front up-stream. Even in cases where nothing is known about the compaction the presented expression can be used as an upper limit for the progression of an ice front. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.