Basin-scale ice motion and deformation in the Weddell Sea during winter

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Wadhams, P., Sear, C.B., Crane, D.R., Rowe, M.A., Morrison, S.J., Limbert, D.W.S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: International Glaciological Society 1989
• Subjects: Weddell Sea; Weddell; Maud Rise; Annals of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521373/; https://doi.org/10.3189/S0260305500007163

Ice motion in the Weddell Sea is examined for the period 19 August (Day 232) to 12 October (Day 286) 1986 using the tracks of four Argos buoys deployed during the Winter Weddell Sea Project 1986 (WWSP 86). Two were SPRI/BAS buoys, launched in December 1985 and March 1986 in the south-east and north-west Weddell Sea. The others were part of a mesoscale array deployed in the Maud Rise area by H. Hoeber of the Meteorologisches Institut der Universität Hamburg, during the WWSP 86 cruise of FS Polarstern. The four buoys operated together for 44 d, comprising a basin-scale quadrilateral from which the differential kinematic parameters of divergence, vorticity, shear, and stretch were extracted, as well as the large-scale pattern of motion. It is found that most deformation episodes were associated with atmospheric forcing events.