Median Floe Size

Median floe size is the floe diameter that splits a floe-size distribution in half, a summary statistic of the pack that ice analysts and modelers track. Floe-size distributions follow an approximate power law over a wide range, so the median sits below the mean and shifts as wave-driven break-up in the marginal ice zone fragments large floes into small ones. Median floe size feeds floe-size-distribution schemes in sea-ice models that link lateral melt, wave attenuation, and drift to floe geometry. Satellite and aerial imagery supply the measurements, with the WMO floe classes (WMO No. 259) providing the binned scale.