Recovery of an ice buoy at 60°S in the Southern Ocean

Performing oceanographic measurements from the sea surface to the sea bottom is technically challenging under rough or icy sea conditions. In 2011, we tested measures for protecting a buoy under such severe conditions by incorporating anti-icing and tolerance to high winds and rough seas. Based on those results, we conducted detailed design of a suitable buoy system. In January 2012, we deployed the buoy in the Southern Ocean off the Adelie Coast at 60°S and 140°E. After 11 months on December 2012, we recovered all the mooring gear that we had deployed. This report describes the mooring system recovery operation and the data acquisition rate. Moreover, we provide some highlights of data found in addition to some data deficits. We infer the reasons why we were unable to sample some of the data from analyses of the data we gathered.