During the Winter Weddell Sea Project 1986 (WWSP 86), meteorological data were gathered above Antarctic sea ice in winter and spring. This paper discusses near-surface data from 1986 and 1987, which were provided by weather stations deployed on drifting sea ice in October 1986. The drift tracks of these buoys for the subsequent 18 months document the sea ice motion of a larger fraction of the complete Weddell gyre than historical vessel drifts and previous buoy programs. The wind roses calculated from the buoys wind measurements show the large-scale rotational wind field over the Weddell Sea. The northward components of near-surface horizontal temperature gradients in winter vary between 1.3 and 2.6 K/100 km. Horizontal temperature gradients in winter vary between 1.3 and 2.6 K/100 km. Horizontal temperature gradients have a component toward the center of the gyre, which varies between 1 and 1.6 K/100 km in the central Weddell Sea. The marginal ice zone advances in autumn and retreats in spring with a speed significantly larger than the actual ice speed. Enhanced meridional temperature contrasts in the troposphere were found each time Polarstern passed the marginal ice zone. Significant mean horizontal temperature gradients of 1 to 5 K/100 km in the troposphere have also been detected in the continental marginal zone from Polarstern data and related aerological data of the Georg-von-Neumayer Antarctic station. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990