An Argos meteorological oceanographic spar buoy for Antarctic deployments

Abstract

A specially configured spar buoy with a 150-m Kevlar multielement sensor string has been designed for deployment in the Antarctic ice fields. The buoy collects a full suite of meteorological data, combined with hourly samples from the oceanographic sensor tether. Water column sensors consist of ten medium-resolution multiplexed temperature sensors to provide an estimate of the salinity structure below the buoy. Data relay is carried out using the Argos capability of the two orbiting NOAA satellites. A pair of developmental AMOS (Antarctic Meteorological Oceanographic Spar) buoys were deployed during the winter of 1987-8 in the open waters of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, from the German oceanographic research vessel Polarstern. Recent data show the rate of mixed layer cooling prior to freeze-up.<>