Antarctica -- October-November 2010

Brown Bluff. This was our second landing on the Antarctic Mainland. I think they tried hard to get the earlier one in because sometimes it is not possible to get to this place because of icebergs drifting close to shore. It's right on the Antarctic Strait.

Also, this location is susceptaible to what they call katabatic winds, which can also prevent landiings here. I didn't fully understand them, but my impressions was they were high winds caused (at least in part) by cold dense air flowing down step slopes (partly by gravity) from the glacier or icecap farther inland.

Air density decreases with altitude, but it increases as temperature gets lower (colder). I suspect what is happening is that the temperature is so low up on the high-altitude plateau on the Antarctic Pennisula that the effect of low temperature on air density overwhelms the effect of high altitude. If this is the case, the cold, high-altitude air is more dense than the warmer, low-altitude air below it. This (if my reasoning is correct), causes the cold, high altitude air to roll down the mountains to the low-altitude (coastal) areas. Hence, the katabatic wind. Despite what I've written in this paragraph, I have trouble visualizing this. I don't claim what I've written here is correct -- and, even if it is correct, I don't claim to fully understand it.

It's probably pretty clear where the name Brown Bluff comes from.

(29 Nov 2010)