In Antarctica New Zealand scientists are using a new high-tech survey to trail the relations between the ocean, Antarctica's sea ice and ice shelves.

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) scientist Craig Stewart and Industrial Research Ltd Tim Haskell set up the ice tethered profiler (ITP). They uploaded its initial set of data from beneath the ice to a satellite at the weekend.

On floating ice there is a surface capsule which supports a weighted plastic-jacketed wire rope hanging in the ocean.

It is with a device moving up and down the rope to accumulate data on water temperature and salinity. The data is put on the air along the wire to be sent off on a satellite connection.

Built in the United States, the survey will endow with Niwa with the first year-round data scheduled what is happening below the ice in McMurdo Sound which is near New Zealand's Scott Base.

Niwa oceanographer Dr Mike Williams held that this will lead to a better thoughtful of the interactions between the ice sheets, the oceans.