The surface energy balance during foehn events at Joyce Glacier, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Hofsteenge, Marte G.; Cullen, Nicolas J.; Reijmer, Carleen H.; van den Broeke, Michiel; Katurji, Marwan; Orwin, John F.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5041-2022

Articles | Volume 16, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5041-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5041-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 12

Research article

|

20 Dec 2022

Research article |

| 20 Dec 2022

The surface energy balance during foehn events at Joyce Glacier, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Marte G. Hofsteenge, Nicolas J. Cullen, Carleen H. Reijmer, Michiel van den Broeke, Marwan Katurji, and John F. Orwin

Data sets

Project: AMPS NCAR https://www.earthsystemgrid.org/project/amps.html

Short summary

In the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), foehn winds can impact glacial meltwater production and the fragile ecosystem that depends on it. We study these dry and warm winds at Joyce Glacier and show they are caused by a different mechanism than that found for nearby valleys, demonstrating the complex interaction of large-scale winds with the mountains in the MDV. We find that foehn winds increase sublimation of ice, increase heating from the atmosphere, and increase the occurrence and rates of melt.