Seasonal sea ice, which plays a pivotal role in air-sea interaction in the
Weddell Sea (a region of large deepwater formation with potential impact on
climate), depends critically on heat nux from the deep ocean. During the a
ustral winter of 1994, an intensive process-oriented field program named th
e Antarctic Zone Flux Experiment measured upper-ocean turbulent fluxes duri
ng two short manned ice-drift station experiments near the Maud Rise seamou
nt region of the Weddell Sea. Unmanned data buoys left at the site of the f
irst manned drift provided a season-long time series of ice motion, mixed l
ayer temperature and salinity. plus a (truncated) high-resolution record of
temperature within the ice column. Direct turbulence Ru measurements made
in the ocean boundary layer during the manned drift stations were extended
to the ice-ocean interface with a "mixing length" model and were used to ev
aluate parameters in bulk expressions for interfacial stress (a "Rossby sim
ilarity" drag law) and ocean-to-ice heat Bur (proportional to the product o
f friction velocity and mixed layer temperature elevation above freezing).
The Rossby parameters and dimensionless heat transfer coefficient agree clo
sely with previous studies from perennial pack ice in the Arctic, despite a
large disparity in undersurface roughness. For the manned drifts, ocean he
at flux averaged 52 W m(-2) west of Maud Rise and 23 W m(-2) over Maud Rise
. Unmanned buoy heat flux averaged 27 W m(-2) over a 76-day drift. Although
short-term differences were large, average conductive heat flux in the ice
was nearly identical to ocean heat flux over the 44-day ice thermistor rec
ord.