Observations of Sea Ice Features off Syowa Station, Antarctica, Derived from Mosaics of Satellite Remote Sensed Data

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MOS-1/lb data were received at Syowa Station from February 1989 to April 1996. During that period, considerable images of MESSR from 1,447 paths were obtained. In this study, we use these Quick look (QL) photos from February 1989 to January 1993. During that period, MESSR images from 669 paths were obtined. Among all these images, we selected the images from which sea ice can be seen. The selected images are approximately 2,300 images with 380 paths, which are about 6% of the total number of received images.In this study, meso-or submeso-scale features of the Antarctic sea ice are investigated using these images. The results are summarized as follows :(1) In the Antarctic ocean, ice bands can be often seen not only at ice edge but also in the ice interior zone throughout the year and they extend to hundreds of kilometers in latitudinal direction.(2) We found that the width and spacing of ice bands tend to decrease from winter to summer.(3) In coastal polynyas, ice streamers, which are composed of frazil ice and new ice, are sometimes observed.(4) In general, the row of the streamers is 1-2 orders larger than that of the Langmuir circulation.(5) In the melting season, the open water appeared in similar locations off Prince Olav Coast every year. It is speculated that these open water locations are related to the local bottom topography.(6) In general, ice motions in the coastal polynyas seem to be influenced by the local current.(7) Ice floes in the shore side of the polynya move faster than those in the offshore side.(8) The coastal polynya off Molodezhnaya Station appeared in the same location every year, with a similar pattern of the landfast ice edge.