

The EB-1 buoy was towed out to its operating station in the Gulf of Mexico by 

 the Coast Guard cutter Acushnet in the summer of 1972. 



of North America, and will be used in support of the Northern Pacific 

 Experiment (NORPAX) under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval 

 Research and the National Science Foundation. 



Two types of smaller, limited-capability buoys are also being 

 tested, one type designed to be moored, the other to drift freely. The 

 power capacity, sensor complement, and operational lifetime of 

 these buoys is less than that of the large buoys. A "minimum- 

 capability" buoy which can carry a small number of sensors to 

 measure several key parameters is also under development. 



Six experimental spar buoys, designed specifically for operation 

 in the polar region, were field-tested during the spring of 1972 in 

 conjunction with the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment 

 (AIDJEX) pilot project in the Beaufort Sea, under the sponsorship of 

 NSF's Office of Polar Programs. These buoys were emplaced in holes 

 cut in the sea ice, each buoy carrying a complement of meteorological 

 sensors and a NASA position-location data-relay transponder 

 package designed to work with the Interrogation, Recording, and 

 Location System (IRLS) on the Nimbus-4 satellite. The IRLS system 

 has demonstrated not only the feasibility of collecting 

 environmental data from sensors on buoys deployed in the harsh and 

 extremely remote areas of the Arctic Ocean, but also its utility in 

 providing information on the dynamics of the polar ice through daily 

 updates in the relative positions of the array of buoys. Four of the 

 buoys operated satisfactorily for more than a year. Subsequent to 

 the successful completion of the arctic data buoy experiment, NASA 



520-810 O - 73 



73 



