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

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.