| Summary: | Progress Code: completed Statement: - Sensors 1,2 and 8 failed upon deployment and never transmitted - All sensors, excluding 7, are presumed lost. Transmissions ceased during storms (averaging 48 knots). Note that sensor 6, the first to go, was deployed on the smallest floe of the 8. - To establish when buoys are in water, see standard deviations of gyro and low frequency noise (an increase in low frequency is expected - which is due to anti-aliasing of significant high frequency noise) - Floe size distribution and ice thickness data could not be quantified via helicopter. - Floe size distribution and ice concentration varied on a daily basis. Supporting satellite images and weather hindcast are required to approximate ice conditions. Antarctic sea-ice is highly influenced by the dynamic nature of the Southern Ocean. Ocean waves can propagate from tens to hundreds of kilometres into sea-ice, leaving behind a wake of broken ice sheets. As global climate change intensifies, storm intensity will increase in the Southern Ocean. Increased storm intensity will bring stronger winds and bigger waves, which has the potential for waves to travel deeper into the ice pack and increase the likelihood that ice floes break apart. To enhance our understanding of this system, our aim during SIPEXII was to improve on the scarce Antarctic waves-in-ice dataset by collecting a set of wave observations in the MIZ. In order to achieve this, we designed and produced eight custom made wave sensors. The sensors were deployed in the Antarctic marginal ice zone along a transect line perpendicular to the ice edge and spread over approximately 200 km. Every three hours, the sensors simultaneously woke and recorded their location and a burst of wave acceleration data. Each sensor performed on-board data quality control and spectral analysis before returning the wave spectrum via satellite. The sensors were powered via lithium batteries and had enough battery power to last a minimum of 6 weeks. This project involved collaboration between ...
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