Comparing GNSS derived sea ice drift in the Arctic and Antarctic using rotary spectra and principal component analysis

Sea ice drift underpins air–sea ice coupling and model evaluation, but the Southern Ocean remains chronically under sampled relative to the Arctic. This work presents a cross-polar comparison of GNSS-tracked ice-drift time series using rotary spectral analysis, principal component analysis, inter-buoy coherence, complementary shape- and amplitude-sensitive spectral differences. Arctic data are aggregated into Beaufort Gyre and Transpolar Drift seasonal composites (2017–2024); Antarctic data comprise eight heterogeneous campaigns (2000–2022) with small buoy counts and short durations. After common quality control, the clearest cross-polar similarity is spectral organisation: both regions show strong low-frequency variance and a hemisphere-appropriate rotary enhancement near the Coriolis frequency, interpreted cautiously as a combined inertial–semidiurnal response. Coherence is highest at synoptic scales and declines towards higher frequencies. Southern Ocean campaigns occupy a higher-energy envelope, so similar band structure does not imply similar drift amplitude. Principal components capture much array-scale motion, but high cumulative variance does not substitute for dense sampling of smaller-scale processes. The results provide transferable frequency-resolved benchmarks (dominant variance below 0.5 cpd and in the near-inertial band, an expanded Arctic reference, and explicit separation of spectral shape from amplitude) to inform future observing-system design without assuming identical dynamical regimes.