Characteristics of winter sea ice conditions in the southwestern Weddell Sea in 1992 as derived from multi-sensor observations

Sea ice conditions in the southwestern Weddell Sea during austral summer 1992 were analysed using different remote sensing techniques as well as satellite-tracked buoy data. The temporal and spatial variability of the large scale ice concentration of first-year and multi-year ice fraction were extracted from SSM/I passive microwave data for the period 1987-1992. The results were compared with backscatter signatures from the ERS-1 SAR as well as with ice motion data from the AVHRR and from buoys. The combination of these data indicates that in the southwestern Weddell Sea a sea ice regime of mostly first-year ice exist which is different from the basinwide ice conditions. The spatial separation of both regime is correlated with the continental slope indicating that the barotropic part of the ocean circulation is a dominant factor for the forcing of the ice cover