The International Programme for Antarctic Buoys (IPAB) is a component of the WCRP

World Climate Research Programme

The World Climate Research Programme was established in 1980, under the joint sponsorship of International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization, and has also been sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO since 1993. It is a component of the...

.

Programme

It aims to establish and maintain a network of drifting buoys

Weather buoy

Weather buoys are instruments which collect weather and ocean data within the world's oceans, as well as aiding during emergency response to chemical spills, legal proceedings, and engineering design. Moored buoys have been in used since 1951, while drifting buoys have been used since 1979...

 in the Antarctic sea-ice zone which monitor ice motion, pressure and temperature. This is to support research in the region related to global climate processes, provide real-time operational meteorological data for numerical weather forecast centres and establish a basis for on-going monitoring of atmospheric and oceanic climate in the Antarctic sea-ice zone. IPAB was established in June 1994. The operational area of the Programme is south of 55 degrees south

55th parallel south

The 55th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 55 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and South America....

 latitude, and includes that region of the Southern Ocean

Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

 and Antarctic marginal seas within the maximum seasonal sea-ice extent.