Numerical simulations and observations of the role of katabatic winds in the creation and maintenance of Scharffenbergbotnen blue ice area, Antarctica

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Zwinger, T., Malm, T., Schäfer, M., Stenberg, R., Moore, J. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2015
• Subjects: article; Verlagsveröffentlichung; Scharffenbergbotnen; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1415-2015; https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00015802; https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00015757/tc-9-1415-2015.pdf; https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/9/1415/2015/tc-9-1415-2015.pdf

We model the role of katabatic winds in the formation and maintenance of a blue ice area in Scharffenbergbotnen valley, Antarctica, using the finite element code Elmer. The high-horizontal-resolution (50–200 m) numerical simulations of the local wind flow from katabatic wind fronts show high spatial...