The proposed work is part of an integrated research program into the oceanographic structure of the western Weddell Sea. It is to be carried out from an ice camp jointly occupied by U.S. and USSR scientists from February to June 1992. The work proposed here is an effort to define the vertical and horizontal thermohaline fluxes within the western part of the Weddell Gyre. Specifically, instrument clusters capable of measuring the Reynolds stress and the turbulent heat flux directly will be suspended from the ice at the camp and maintained throughout the duration of the drift. Also, a remote buoy to measure upper ocean temperature, salinity and current structure will be emplaced to make observations on the larger scale variability within which the turbulence data is embedded. The measurements will be used in conjunction with other concurrent experiments to quantify the energy brought to the underside of the ice and form part of the flux of energy from the ocean through the sea ice cover to the atmosphere.
