Giant Icebergs of the Ross Sea, in situ Drift and Weather Measurements, Antarctica

During 2001-2006, 6 giant icebergs (B15A, B15J, B15K, C16 and C25) adrift in the southwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica, were instrumented with global positioning system (GPS) receivers, magnetic compasses and automatic weather stations (AWS), to monitor their behavior in the near-coastal environment and to record their exit into the Southern Ocean. The GPS and AWS data were collected on a 20-minute interval, Many of the station data timeseries are continuous for periods of up to 7 years, with icebergs C16 and B15J having the longest records.

The data is considered useful for examining the processes of iceberg drift (and other behaviors) on time scales that are shorter than what is possible through satellite image iceberg tracking. Data are available in comma-delimited ASCII format and Matlab native mat files.