This project consists of the analysis phase of an earlier three-year field study of the mesoscale structure of the upper layers of the ice- covered Weddell Sea. The field program produced a substantial data base from a series of drifting oceanographic buoys set out from the West German research vessel POLARSTERN in the austral summer of 1986, and with complementary oceanographic and atmospheric observations, will form the basis of a quantitative study of the dynamics of the upper ocean in the eastern portion of the Weddell Gyre. The project will concentrate on processing and analyzing the drifter data that is still being received through a satellite link from one of the buoys, preparing a comprehensive data report, and completing the fundamental modeling program of the warm and cold water regimes in the vicinity of Maud Rise.
