During summer (2 December 1999–23 January 2000) an Ocean Surface Current Radar (OSCR-II)
was used to provide surface current measurements within the Terra Nova Bay polynya, one of the most
important coastal polynyas of the Ross Sea. This represents an important step towards a continuous
monitoring of the area. Useful information is now available as a basis for future work in this field, although
the two radar sites, necessary to calculate the total current vector, did not work together throughout the
whole period of the experiment as one of the units was damaged. The results demonstrate the feasibility of
this kind of measurement and suggest that very important dynamical characteristics of the polynya could be
deduced from long term deployment of such a system.