The pattern of surface wind flow in Antarctica

Summary The main characteristics of surface winds are tabulated for 34 Antarctic stations. Using these data, supplemented by traverse records, the average wind flow is interpolated for each region and presented as a map showing the pattern of surface wind flow for the whole continent. Attention is focused on the flow in relation to surface contours. Statistics are presented for surface slope, wind speed, temperature, seasonal variations of speed and temperature, diurnal variation (including power spectra) of the wind speed and times of maximum and minimum speed at coastal and inland stations, wind frequency versus direction, the occurrence of calms, the deviation of the plateau wind from the downslope direction, the wind direction near the front of ice shelves, the proportion of cloud cover, and wind chill factors. In all cases data are grouped according to the environs of the stations in an attempt to isolate systematic differences depending on location: coastal stations near the foot of the ice slope and fully exposed to katabatic flow, coastal stations on offshore islands, coastal stations on peninsulas, coastal stations on extensive rock areas, ice shelf stations and inland stations.