Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica
Abstract The meteorological characteristics and hydrological response of an extreme warm, and cold summer in the McMurdo Dry Valleys are compared. The driver behind the warmer summer conditions was the occurrence of down-valley winds, which were not present during the colder summer. Occurrence of th...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102008001272 2024-09-15T17:48:08+00:00 Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica Doran, Peter T. McKay, Christopher P. Fountain, Andrew G. Nylen, Thomas McKnight, Diane M. Jaros, Chris Barrett, John E. 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102008001272 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102008001272 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 20, issue 5, page 499-509 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 journal-article 2008 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102008001272 2024-07-10T04:04:35Z Abstract The meteorological characteristics and hydrological response of an extreme warm, and cold summer in the McMurdo Dry Valleys are compared. The driver behind the warmer summer conditions was the occurrence of down-valley winds, which were not present during the colder summer. Occurrence of the summer down-valley winds coincided with lower than typical mean sea level pressure in the Ross Sea region. There was no significant difference in the amount of solar radiation received during the two summers. Compared to the cold summer, glaciological and hydrological response to the warm summer in Taylor Valley included significant glacier mass loss, and 3- to nearly 6000-fold increase in annual streamflow. Lake levels decreased slightly during the cold summer, and increased between 0.54 and 1.01 m during the warm summer, effectively erasing the prior 14 years of lake level lowering in a period of three months. Lake level rise during the warm summer was shown to be strongly associated with and increase in degree days above freezing at higher elevations. We suggest that strong summer down-valley winds may have been responsible for the generation of large glacial lakes during the Last Glacial Maximum when ice core records recorded annual temperatures significantly colder than present. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica ice core McMurdo Dry Valleys Ross Sea Cambridge University Press Antarctic Science 20 5 499 509 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The meteorological characteristics and hydrological response of an extreme warm, and cold summer in the McMurdo Dry Valleys are compared. The driver behind the warmer summer conditions was the occurrence of down-valley winds, which were not present during the colder summer. Occurrence of the summer down-valley winds coincided with lower than typical mean sea level pressure in the Ross Sea region. There was no significant difference in the amount of solar radiation received during the two summers. Compared to the cold summer, glaciological and hydrological response to the warm summer in Taylor Valley included significant glacier mass loss, and 3- to nearly 6000-fold increase in annual streamflow. Lake levels decreased slightly during the cold summer, and increased between 0.54 and 1.01 m during the warm summer, effectively erasing the prior 14 years of lake level lowering in a period of three months. Lake level rise during the warm summer was shown to be strongly associated with and increase in degree days above freezing at higher elevations. We suggest that strong summer down-valley winds may have been responsible for the generation of large glacial lakes during the Last Glacial Maximum when ice core records recorded annual temperatures significantly colder than present. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Doran, Peter T. McKay, Christopher P. Fountain, Andrew G. Nylen, Thomas McKnight, Diane M. Jaros, Chris Barrett, John E. |
spellingShingle |
Doran, Peter T. McKay, Christopher P. Fountain, Andrew G. Nylen, Thomas McKnight, Diane M. Jaros, Chris Barrett, John E. Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica |
author_facet |
Doran, Peter T. McKay, Christopher P. Fountain, Andrew G. Nylen, Thomas McKnight, Diane M. Jaros, Chris Barrett, John E. |
author_sort |
Doran, Peter T. |
title |
Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica |
title_short |
Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica |
title_full |
Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica |
title_sort |
hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the mcmurdo dry valleys, east antarctica |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102008001272 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102008001272 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica ice core McMurdo Dry Valleys Ross Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica ice core McMurdo Dry Valleys Ross Sea |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 20, issue 5, page 499-509 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102008001272 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
20 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
499 |
op_container_end_page |
509 |
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1810289271297277952 |