Sea ice attenuates waves propagating from the open ocean. Here we model the evolution of energetic unidirectional random waves in the marginal ice zone with a nonlinear Schrödinger equation, with a frequency dependent dissipative term consistent with current model paradigms and recent field observations. The preferential dissipation of high fre quency components results in a concurrent downshift of the spectral peak that leads to a less than exponential energy decay, but at a lower rate compared to a corresponding linear model. Attenuation and downshift contrast nonlinearity, and nonlinear wave statistics at the edge tend to Gaussianity farther into the marginal ice zone
