The proposed work is an investigation of the processes and properties of a consolidated perennial, possibly multi-year, sea ice cover in the western Weddell Sea where oceanographic processes are presumed to be largely horizontal, and a similar program in the central and eastern Weddell Sea where seasonal variability is high, and the ocean appears to be dominated by vertical processes. The western Weddell Sea will be carried out in 1992 at an ice camp occupied jointly by U.S. and USSR scientists. The principal experiment will be a mesoscale deformation array with location being determined by the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS). Additionally, long-term heat and mass balance measurements on various ice types in the vicinity of the camp will be carried out. This involves installing ice thickness gauges, thermistor (temperature) strings, and stress sensors, which will be sampled periodically over the duration of the drift. Ice samples will be examined for physical, chemical, biological, and optical properties in order to establish a baseline ecology and its variations as the ice cover drifts northward. Radar backscatter and passive microwave emission measurements will be made at several frequencies to establish the dielectric properties of the sea ice and to provide ground truth information for future satellite-based radar experiments.
