During the July-September 2001 Southern Globec cruises of the Palmer and Gould we installed four buoys. Two of the buoys (07413, 07440) were standard off-the-shelf Met-Ocean Ice buoys (see above photograph). These buoys measured barometric pressure, air temperature, and GPS position. The data were transmitted via ARGOS. A radar reflector was mounted on a wooden 4 x 4 to help find the site if there was an opportunity to return, however the reflector return was difficult to discern among all the backscatter clutter caused by deformed ice and icebergs.

The other two buoys (07949, 07950) were custom made CRREL ice mass balance buoys (photo on right). These buoys reported barometric pressure, Argos position, and air temperature. In addition they had a thermistor string that measured a vertical profile of temperature, at 10 cm spacing, from the air, through the snow and ice, and into the upper ocean. There were acoustic sensors measuring the positions of the snow surface and ice bottom. A fluorometer was mounted under the ice. One of the buoys (07949) had three spectroradiometers; one mounted about the ice, one mounted directly below the ice, and one a few meters deep in the upper ocean. Results from all buoys are compared.

Positive values are above the ice; negative values are in the ice and underlying ocean. Due to surface flooding and freezing, the position of the snow-ice interface changed during the measurement period.
 

Tracks from all 2001 buoys: