Abstract:
Turbulence measurements have been performed on a slightly sloping ice sheet in
a coastal area, close to Terra Nova Bay Italian station in Antarctica.
Measurements have been performed at 10, 4.6 and 2 m above ground level, that is
about 70 m over mean sea level. The measuring site is frequently beaten by
katabatic winds flowing from the Antarctic Plateau toward the Ross sea along
the Reeves and
... Priestley glaciers. They characterize the local climatology as
well the exchange mechanisms of sensible and latent heat, of momentum and mass.
In regions like that taken into account in this experiment the ice mass balance
is compromised by the action of katabatic winds in terms of enhanced snow
drift, iceberg calving and thermal exchanges at the air-ice interface in a
stably stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL). The final result is the
formation of blue ice areas on the NIS (Nansen Ice Sheet) and of a polynya in
the Ross sea. 
