Some peculiarities of ice movements in the arctic basin based on data from FGGE automatic buoys

Abstract

Abstract Deployment of 18 ADRAMS (Air‐Droppable Remote Access Measurement System) buoys within the framework of the First Global Experiment Program in February 1979 permitted for the first time the analysis of the pattern of simultaneous ice drift velocities throughout the Arctic Basin (see previous article). An analysis of the pattern was made for the period March 1979‐January 1980. In general terms the pattern displays several features which were already quite well established, especially the presence of the anticlockwise Beaufort Gyral and of the east‐west Transarctic Drift. However the position, dimensions, and configuration of the Beaufort Gyral vary strikingly from month to month. The width of the Transarctic Drift was found to vary noticeably in response to changes in the position and size of the Beaufort Gyral. Generally the position and size of the Beaufort Gyral is controlled by the position and intensity of an atmospheric high pressure system, although the positions of coastlines and possibly o...