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K149: Warm Winds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys

Start date:
October
End date:
November
Locations:
Victoria Valley, Lower Victoria Valley Sand Dunes, Lake Vida, Wright Valley, Lower Wright Valley
Principle Investigator:
Hamish McGowan
Organisation:
University of Queensland
State
Brisbane, Australia
The McMurdo Dry Valleys represent the largest snow and ice free region on Antarctica. This unique landscape is believed to have remained essentially unchanged for > 13 million years and is the closest Earth analogue to conditions on Mars. The study seeks to determine the meteorology of the “warm” wind events believed to be föhn that occur in these valleys. These winds result in the largest temperature changes known e.g. > +40C in 2 hours, triggering melt of seasonal snow and ice and ground permafrost. They are the principal control of dust genesis and sand dune geomorphology in the Victoria Valley where research of the valley’s sand dunes has been driven by their close resemblance to Martian dunes. The study will combine field measurement of föhn events in the Wright and Victoria Valleys, McMurdo Dry Valleys with state-of-the-art climate modelling studies to identify their origin and impact on the weather and climate of this unique region of global importance. Results will provide essential baseline data on the regions weather and climate against which impacts of future climate variability can be gauged. They will underpin also predictions of how this region may be impacted by both natural and anthropogenic climate variability.