Turbulence at 4.5, 10 and 22 m measured downstream of the Reeves glacier during katabatic wind events in 1994/95.

Turbulence measurements have been performed downstream a steeply sloping
glacier (Reeves) on the Nansen Ice Sheet, a coastal area close to Terra Nova
Bay Italian station in Antarctica. Measurements have been performed at 4.5, 10
and 22 m above ground level, that is about 100 m above mean sea level. The
measuring site is frequently beaten by katabatic winds flowing from the
Antarctic Plateau toward the Ross sea along the Reeves glacier. Katabatic wind
characterizes the local climatology as well the exchange mechanisms of sensible
and latent heat, of momentum and mass. In the area downstream the glacier the
ice mass balance is strongly compromised by the action of katabatic winds in
terms of enhanced snow drift and thermal exchanges at the air-ice interface in
a slightly stable Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) . The final result is the
formation of blue ice areas on the NIS and of a polynya in the Ross sea. In
these areas the loss terms are greater than gain and, thus, are particularly
interesting as regards the global climate.