Observing the Advection of Sea Ice in the Weddell Sea Using Buoy and Satellite Passive Microwave Data

This study examines the progress and behavior of an area of sea ice as it drifts from the southwestern Weddell Sea by using data from four buoys tracked by Nimbus 6 and concurrent ice concentrations retrieved from Nimbus 7 scanning multichannel microwave radiometer data. It covers the entire growth season of 1980. The overall drift characteristics, and their relationship to ice edge displacement, are examined within the framework of four zones. Three phases are identified in the large-scale behavior of the Weddell sea ice cover, namely, a rapid equatorward and eastward advance, a quasi-equilibrium phase, and a period of rapid recession. -from Author