Buoys

Four NCAR Portable Automated Mesonet (PAM) stations are deployed in the vicinity of the main Sheba icecamp. These are so-called flux PAMS with instruments to measure turbulent and radiative fluxes. Each station is completely independent with an onboard data acquisition and processing computer. The data are processed into 5-minute averages and statistics which are immediately transmitted via RF modem to a central computer on the ship. The PAMs are deployed at four locations designated Florida, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cleveland (listed in order of increasing distance from the ship). Florida is actually located in the icecamp near the flux group's main tower. The others are on different ice types 2-6 km away (that is, at the initial deployment).

The information obtained from the PAM stations is:

• Wind speed and direction
• Air temperature and humidity
• Ice-snow interface temperature
• Station orientation and position
• Atmospheric pressure
• Covariance fluxes of momentum and sensible heat
• Upward and downward longwave and solar radiative fluxes
• Heat flux at the ice-snow interface
• Variance of wind components and temperature