The paper presents a description of observations of near-surface currents and water temperature at the surface, made in the Barents Sea and in the south-western part of the Kara Sea with the help of satellite tracked drifting buoys -- drifters. This information should be taken into account when planning further drifter observations in the considered area. For the southwestern region of the Barents Sea -- the most covered by drifter observations~--~the intra-annual variations of the averaged velocity module of currents at the depth of 15~m and the average temperature at the water surface are calculated. It is shown that the currents intensify in winter and weaken in summer with a minimum of the velocity module in August. Water temperature at the surface, on the contrary, has a maximum in August, and a minimum is reached in April.
drifter observations, subsurface currents, surface water temperature, annual course, Barents Sea, Kara Sea
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