DISTRIBUTION OF SEA ICE OFF QUEEN MAUD LAND FROM NOAA SATELLITE AVHRR IMAGERY

摘要

The purpose of this study is to investigate sea ice distribution off Queen Maud Land on the basis of NOAA AVHRR data received from 1987 to 1989 at Syowa Station. These data are very useful for examining the mesoscale phenomena. There are several characteristics such as coastal polynyas and sea ice eddies in the image. A coastal polynya was observed along the shelf break. Sea ice eddies were found at the ice edge which is located 60-200km off the Antarctic coast from December to February. These eddies are characterized by horizontal scale of 30-50km and small propagation of a few cm/s westward.