Contribution to the Knowledge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet: A Synthesis of Glaciological Measurements in Terre Adélie

Abstract

AbstractThis paper is a synthesis of glaciological investigations conducted in Terre Adélie, mainly during the LG.Y. The surface and bedrock profiles have been obtained along a 500 km. line roughly perpendicular to the coast; the mean annual temperature has been studied as a finnction of altitude, and mean accumulation has been related to distance from the coast and surface slope. Stratigraphic studies made at Station Charcot again raise the problem of the determination of mean accumulation in certain parts of the Antarctic plateau; they provide a quadratic relationship between density and depth. The snow-drift studies lead to the Mowing conclusions: wind velocity and density of drifting snow are functions of height above the surface, and the total transport depends on wind velocity. Lastly, measurements have been made of glacier flow near the coast. The paper ends with a schematic study of the mass balance in Terre Adélie; accumulation seems to be slightly larger than ablation, a result that is to be contrasted with the obtervrd coastal retreat near Dumont d’Urille base.