  Increased economic activity and research interest in the Arctic raise the
need for better wave forecasts in the marginal ice zone (MIZ). Mathematical and
numerical models of wave propagation in sea ice would benefit from more in situ
data for validation. This study presents shipborne wave measurements from the
MIZ where altimeter readings are corrected for ship motion to obtain estimated
single point ocean surface elevation. From the combined measurements, we obtain
significant wave height and zero up-crossing period, as well as one-dimensional
wave spectra. In addition, we provide spectra and integrated parameters
obtained from inertial motion units (IMU) placed on ice floes inside the MIZ.
The results are compared with integrated parameters from the WAM-4 spectral
wave model over a period of three days in the open ocean. We also compare our
measurements outside and inside the MIZ with hindcast data from the new
pan-Arctic WAM-3 model and the Wave Watch III model for the European Arctic,
which both model wave attenuation in sea ice. A good agreement is found with
WAM-4 and WW3 in zero up-crossing period and significant wave height outside
the MIZ, where deviations are less than 23%. WAM-3 is on the other hand up to
60% higher than observations. WW3 and WAM-3 are able to estimate the trends for
significant wave height and zero up-crossing period inside the MIZ, although
the discrepancies with respect to the observations were larger than in the open
ocean. Wave damping by sea ice is investigated by looking at the spatial
attenuation coefficients. Predicted attenuation coefficients are found to be
72-83% smaller for WW3 and 3-64% larger for WAM-3 compared to observations.
Hence, further model tuning is necessary to better estimate wave parameters in
the ice.
