  A model-data inversion is applied to a very large observational dataset
collected in the Southern Ocean north of the Ross Sea during late autumn to
early winter, producing estimates of the frequency-dependent rate of
dissipation by sea ice. The modeling platform is WAVEWATCH III(R) which
accounts for non-stationarity, advection, wave generation, and other relevant
processes. The resulting 9477 dissipation profiles are co-located with other
variables such as ice thickness to quantify correlations which might be
exploited in later studies to improve predictions. Mean dissipation profiles
from the inversion are fitted to simple binomials. Variability about the mean
profile is not small, but the binomials show remarkable qualitative similarity
to prior observation-based estimates of dissipation, and the power dependence
is consistent with at least three theoretical models, one of which assumes that
dissipation is dominated by turbulence generated by shear at the ice-water
interface.
