Oceanographic Instruments and Deployment Systems for Polar Seas

Problems peculiar to oceanographic measurements in polar regions are divided into those due to the need for specialised deployment systems under winter/spring conditions and those due to the oceanic environment. It is concluded that major difficulties arise due to the lack of commercially available systems designed for use from the sea ice surface and a lack of a properly integrated approach to a problem involving instrumental, environmental and logistic concerns. Two major problems directly related to the cold arctic waters are ice crystals within water samples and the absence of an adequate directional reference from the earth's magnetic field over a large part of the Arctic Archipelago.