Marginal ice zone dynamics

For the best part of my entire career, I have focused on the marginal ice zone, abbreviated to MIZ by most sea ice scientists. Defined perfunctorily by the National Snow & Ice Data Center as the part of the seasonal ice zone where waves, swells and other open ocean processes affect the sea ice, the MIZ habitually extends from the ice edge some 100–200 km into the ice pack with morphology that varies dramatically spatially and with time. In general, the Antarctic MIZ is wider than MIZs in the Arctic, recognizing that increases in the ferocity and incidence of storms and the durability of ice due to global climate change are already affecting the physical attributes of each MIZ. I provide here a somewhat historically tailored preamble to a unique compilation of up-to-the-minute MIZ research in this theme issue that includes the nexus between contemporary theoretical, modelling and experimental projects. A prognosticative synopsis of these projects is also included later in the volume, framed in the context of the ongoing ontogenesis of the research field. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Theory, modelling and observations of marginal ice zone dynamics: multidisciplinary perspectives and outlooks’.