Turbulence characteristics determined in the Surface Layer on NIS (Nansen Ice Sheet ), upwind a steep obstacle, in 1998-1999.

Turbulence measurements have been performed on a flat ice sheet in a coastal
area, close to Terra Nova Bay Italian station in Antarctica. Measurements have
been performed at 2 and 10 m above ground level, that is about 20m over mean
sea level.The measuring site is frequently beaten by katabatic winds flowing
from the Antarctic Plateau toward the Ross sea along the Reeves and Priestley
glaciers. They characterize the local climatology as well the exchange
mechanisms of sensible and latent heat of momentum and mass. In regions like
that taken into account in this experiment, the ice mass balance is compromised
by the action of katabatic winds in terms of enhanced snow drift, iceberg
calving and thermal exchanges at the air-ice interface in a stably stratified
atmospheric Boundary Layer . The final result is the formation of blue ice
areas on the NIS (Nansen Ice Sheet) and of a polynya in the Ross sea.