Siple Dome (81°39′15″S 149°00′18″W) is an ice dome approximately 100 km wide and 100 km long, located 130 km east of Siple Coast in Antarctica. Charles Bentley and Robert Thomas established a "strain rosette" on this feature to determine ice movement in 1973–74. They referred to the feature as Siple Dome because of its proximity to Siple Coast.
Siple Dome Field Camp | |
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Camp | |
Coordinates: 81°39′15″S 149°00′18″W | |
Country | United States |
Location in Antarctica | Siple Dome Marie Byrd Land Antarctica |
Administered by | National Science Foundation |
Established | 1996 (1996) |
Elevation | 730 m (2,400 ft) |
Population | |
• Total | Up to 60 |
Type | Seasonal |
The Siple Dome ice core project (79.468° S 112.086° W) was conducted by the United States National Science Foundation. The deepest ice was recovered in 1999 from 974 m, with an age of 97,600 years.[1]
It is best known for the poorly-explained steps in water isotopes during the deglacial, which are unique to this core and may indicate a rapid decrease in the surface elevation of the adjoining ice streams during the deglacial[2] and a record of atmospheric carbon dioxide.[3] The Chief Scientist was Kendrick Taylor.
In the 1990s a team from the University of Washington and St Olaf College surveyed the ice, measuring thickness and determining internal structure, [4] finding evidence for the operation of the Raymond Effect. They also found that the ice had a maximum thickness of around 1000 m.
The climate is ice cap (Köppen: ET), as is most of the continent. Without marine moderation and a few hundred meters above sea level, it has one of the harshest winters on the continent outside the Antarctic plateaus. Unlike Alert, NU at slightly higher latitude and positive high averages during summer, in Siple Dome temperatures remain below freezing during the afternoon of the warmer months on average.[5][6]
Climate data for Siple dome, elevation: 620 m or 2,030 ft, 1997-2011 normals and extremes | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 11.4 (52.5) |
7.1 (44.8) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−4.9 (23.2) |
−5.9 (21.4) |
−8.6 (16.5) |
−8.8 (16.2) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
0.0 (32.0) |
3.1 (37.6) |
7.4 (45.3) |
11.4 (52.5) |
Average high °C (°F) | −5.5 (22.1) |
−11.3 (11.7) |
−18.0 (−0.4) |
−22.5 (−8.5) |
−24.7 (−12.5) |
−23.5 (−10.3) |
−26.1 (−15.0) |
−28.9 (−20.0) |
−25.0 (−13.0) |
−18.1 (−0.6) |
−10.2 (13.6) |
−5.3 (22.5) |
−18.3 (−0.9) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −9.8 (14.4) |
−15.7 (3.7) |
−22.5 (−8.5) |
−26.6 (−15.9) |
−29.0 (−20.2) |
−27.6 (−17.7) |
−30.3 (−22.5) |
−32.9 (−27.2) |
−29.8 (−21.6) |
−23.6 (−10.5) |
−15.1 (4.8) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
−22.7 (−8.9) |
Average low °C (°F) | −13.3 (8.1) |
−19.3 (−2.7) |
−26.4 (−15.5) |
−30.6 (−23.1) |
−33.3 (−27.9) |
−31.7 (−25.1) |
−34.4 (−29.9) |
−37.1 (−34.8) |
−33.9 (−29.0) |
−27.9 (−18.2) |
−18.7 (−1.7) |
−13.3 (8.1) |
−26.7 (−16.0) |
Record low °C (°F) | −22.9 (−9.2) |
−33.9 (−29.0) |
−41.8 (−43.2) |
−49.9 (−57.8) |
−49.6 (−57.3) |
−56.6 (−69.9) |
−54.6 (−66.3) |
−59.4 (−74.9) |
−53.9 (−65.0) |
−44.8 (−48.6) |
−37.9 (−36.2) |
−21.9 (−7.4) |
−59.4 (−74.9) |
Source: Climatebase.ru[6] |
Siple Dome Skiway | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | government | ||||||||||
Owner/Operator | US Antarctic Program | ||||||||||
Location | Marie Byrd Land | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 1,994 ft / 607 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 81°39′29″S 148°59′51″W | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Siple Dome Skiway Location of airfield in Antarctica | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document: "Siple Dome". (content from the Geographic Names Information System)
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