What is it about?
A sedimentology study of windblown dust sources, dispersal and accumulation on sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
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Photo by Sergey Kuznetsov on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This study provides quantitative data of dust accumulation on sea ice over a 3,000km2 area of McMurdo Sound, the first study to do so. It also explores local wind fields to determine probable dispersal patterns and dust transport distance beyond the field area. It uses volcanic glass to prove provenance of source material.
Perspectives
The field work for this publication could only be described as exceptional! We spent four weeks on snow-mobiles, traversing a plotted grid-pattern by GPS over sea ice that fringes the Scott Coast of McMurdo Sound. At every waypoint, we stopped to dig a snow-pit, taking a profile of clean snow. The person sampling wore a Tyvek coverall to reduce contamination. The days were long and challenging; however, the hard work was amply rewarded with encounters with Weddell seals, Emperor penguins and snow petrels, and incredible vistas of the Transantarctic Mountains. That year, there were multiple, large icebergs grounded in multi-year sea ice making traversing some parts slow-going but providing spectacular photo opportunities. Sastrugi, flat light and a katabatic wind also made some days more challenging than others in the Antarctic elements. The sample set obtained is unique and provides us a picture of dust distribution over the sound from two main provenances. I'll let you read the paper to find out more!
Ms Jane Chewings
Victoria University of Wellington
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Aeolian sediment transport and deposition in a modern high‐latitude glacial marine environment, Sedimentology, March 2014, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/sed.12108.
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