LAUSR

It is very important to study variability in the hydrological structure of water in Antarctic coastal areas on different time scales in order to specify the formation mechanisms of shelf water masses. This will help solve ecological and industrial problems and improve regional navigation. These studies were begun by the Marine Hydrophysical Institute (MHI) during Antarctic expeditions on the R/V Ernst Krenkel’ and R/V Gorizont from 1997 through 2002 on the western shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula near the Argentine Islands. The results of many hours of soundings at hydrological stations showed that mesoscale (diurnal) and synoptic (interdiurnal) variability of the thermohaline structure of water in these areas was related to water transfer by drift currents, which vary depending on the prevailing winds under the effect of synoptic processes. This complex pattern was overlapped with water advection by tidal currents, which in turn were characterized by both diurnal and semidiurnal periodicity [1]. The results had a regional character; therefore, it seemed important to assess how the revealed regularities manifest themselves in different areas of the Antarctic.