TITLE:    Palmer LTER: Hydrography in the LTER Region
AUTHOR:   Eileen E Hofmann, Bruce L Lipphardt, Jr., David A Smith,
          Ricardo A Locarnini
Palmer LTER Contribution #15
ANJ 1993  V28(5) pg 209-211

Historically the hydrography of the coastal and shelf waters of the region
west of the Antarctic Peninsula has received little attention, with
observations being confined to a few cruises with relatively large station
spacing or to a few individual stations (e.g. Gordon and Molinelli, 1982;
Olbers et al. 1992).  This area is believed to be a site of spawning and
recruitment for Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba.  Hence, characterization
of the water mass distribution and circulation in this habitat is necessary to
understand krill distribution and recruitment success.  From 25 March to 15
May 1993 an extensive hydrographic survey was made of the Palmer Long-Term
Ecological Research (LTER) peninsula grid (Waters and Smith, 1992; Hofmann et
al. 1992b) as part of a multidisciplinary cruise aboard the RV Nathaniel B
Palmer.  The survey covered an area that extended about 900 km alongshore and
about 200 km offshore along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula
(figure 1).  These measurements represent the first extensive hydrographic
regional coverage of the area west of the Antarctic Peninsula that extends 
from the Bransfield Strait to the Bellingshausen Sea.  This note presents
preliminary results from analysis of these hydrographic data.