Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T15:26:01.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Experiences of Scott's Northern Party: evidence for a relationship between winter katabatic winds and the Terra Nova Bay polynya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

David H. Bromwich  and
Dennis D. Kurtz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The six men of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Northern Party were stranded on Inexpressible Island (Fig 1) from late February to September 1912. During that period their lives were profoundly influenced by prevailing surface wind and sea ice conditions in Terra Nova Bay. Members of the party lived under the most primitive conditions, enduring more than seven months of strong, persistent winds. The western part of Terra Nova Bay remained largely free of ice in 1912, thus preventing the group from leaving until there was sufficient daylight to cross the Drygalski Ice Tongue. This open water, however, may also have assured their survival for it attracted enough seals and penguins to provide them with a continual though limited supply of food. Despite these adverse conditions some of the men, Raymond Priestley in particular, kept detailed journals which provide the only in situwintertime observations for this area. Analysis of Priestley's wind and ice record provides strong confirmation of our model for the wintertime persistence of open water (a polynya) in Terra Nova Bay.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 21 , Issue 131 , May 1982 , pp. 137 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ball, F. K. 1957. The katabatic winds of Adélie Land and King George V Land. Tellus, Vol 9, No 2, p 201–08.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromwich, D. H. and Kurtz, D. D. 1981. The Terra Nova Bay polynya: description and physical model. EOS. American Geophysical Union Transactions, Vol 62, No 45, p 902. (Abstract 02–1–A–10.)Google Scholar
David, T. W. E. and Priestley, R. E. 1914. Geology, Vol I. Glaciology, physiography, stratigraphy and tectonic geology of South Victoria Land. British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09. Reports on the scientific investigations. London, Heinemann.Google Scholar
Fleet Weather Facility. 1975, 1977, 1979. Antarctic ice charts, 1973–1974, 1975–1976, 1977–1978. Suitland, Maryland, Fleet Weather Facility.Google Scholar
Huxley, L. ed. 1913. Scott's last expedition, Vol II. New York, Dodd, Mead and Co.Google Scholar
Knapp, W. W. 1972. Satellite observations of large polynyas in polar waters. In: Karlsson, T. ed. Sea ice. Reykjavik, Iceland, National Research Council, p 201–12.Google Scholar
List, R. J. 1971. Smithsonian meteorological tables. Washington, DC, Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Madigan, C. T. 1929. Meteorological records of the Cape Denison station, Adélie Land. Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911–1914. Scientific Reports, Series B, Vol 4.Google Scholar
Mather, K. B. 1962. Further observations on sastrugi, snow dunes and the pattern of surface winds in Antarctica. Polar Record, Vol II, No 71, p 158–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mather, K. B. and Miller, G. S. 1967. Notes on topographic factors affecting the surface wind in Antarctica with special reference to katabatic winds and bibliography. Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska. (Report UAG R-189.)Google Scholar
Mawson, D. 1915. The home of the blizzard. London, Heinemann.Google Scholar
Naval Polar Oceanography Center 1981. Antarctic ice charts, 1979–1980. Suitland, Maryland, Naval Polar Oceanography Center.Google Scholar
Parish, T. R. 1981. The katabatic winds of Cape Denison and Port Martin. Polar Record, Vol 20, No 129, p 525–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parish, T. R. (in press). Surface airflow over East Antarctica. Monthly Weather Review.Google Scholar
Priestley, R. E. 1913. General diary, 1 January 1912-February 1913. (Unpublished manuscript in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge. MS 298/6/2.)Google Scholar
Priestley, R. E. 1914. Work and adventures of the Northern Party of Captain Scott's Antarctic Expedition, 1910–1913. The Geographical Journal, Vol 43, No 1, p 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priestley, R. E. 1923. Physiography (Robertson Bay and Terra Nova Bay regions). British (Terra Nova) Antarctic Expedition, 1910–1913. London, Harrison and Sons.Google Scholar
Priestley, R. E. 1974. Antarctic adventure. Toronto, McClelland and Stewart.Google Scholar
Schwerdtfeger, W. 1970. The climate of the Antarctic. In: Lansberg, H. E. ed. World survey of climatology, Vol 14. Amsterdam, Elsevier, p 253–355.Google Scholar
Schwerdtfeger, W. 1979. Problems and suggestions concerning synoptic and climatic data for the high southern latitudes. In: Kuhn, M. ed. Collections of contributions presented at CPM sessions, IAGA-IAMAP Assembly, Seattle, Washington, September 1977. Boulder, Colorado, National Center for Atmospheric Research, p 84–100.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. C. 1919. Meteorology. British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–1913. Vol I. Discussion. Calcutta, Thacker, Spink and Co.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. C. 1923. Meteorology. British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–1913, Vol III. Tables. London, Harrison and Sons.Google Scholar
Stuart, A. W. and Heine, A. J. 1961. Glaciological work of the 1959–1960 US Victoria Land Traverse. Journal of Glaciology, Vol 13, No 30, p 997–1002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, C. S. and Priestley, R. E. 1922. Glaciology. British (Terra Nova) Antarctic Expedition, 1910–1913. London, Harrison and Sons.Google Scholar