This project is the physical oceanography component of the interdisciplinary Antarctic Marine Ecosystem Analysis in the Ice Edge Zone (AMERIEZ) program. It will measure, document, and analyze mesoscale physical oceanographic features in the mid-winter marginal ice zone of the Scotia Sea, by obtaining temperature and salinity data along closely-spaced transects through the study region in the austral winter 1988. A series of satellite-tracked drifting buoys will be set out along the western margin and followed through the area to give the Lagrangian current field. The hydrographic and current measurements will define fronts, eddies, meanders, and other mesoscale features, and will provide a framework within which the chemical and biological data can be interpreted.
