Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-20T11:55:38.918Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Extreme precipitation event at the Ross Ice Shelf during the 1911–1912 South Pole run

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2024

Mila Zinkova Open the ORCID record for Mila Zinkova [Opens in a new window]
Mila Zinkova*
Affiliation:
Independent researcher, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA
*
milazinkova@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In March 1912, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his companions perished on their return journey from the South Pole. The Final Blizzard delivered a terminal blow. However, it was only a part of this story of endurance and tragedy. In December 1911, en route to the South Pole, the men had been tent-bound for 4 days due to an exceptionally warm, wet blizzard. This article compares the meteorological situation that the polar party encountered in December 1911 to a similar situation in the modern time and suggests a possible climatology behind the 1911 event.

Keywords

1911Antarcticaextreme precipitation event in the Polar Plateauextreme precipitation event in the western Ross Ice Shelfhistory of polar explorationSouth PoleSouth Pole run
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , First View , pp. 1 - 9
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antarctic Science Ltd

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adusumilli, S., Fish, M.A., Fricker, H.A. & Medley, B. 2021. Atmospheric river precipitation contributed to rapid increases in surface height of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in 2019. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, 10.1029/2020GL091076.Google Scholar
Amundsen, R. 1913. The South Pole: an account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the ‘Fram’ 1910–1912. Vol. 2. New York: Trow Press, 449 pp.Google Scholar
Bromwich, D.H., Fogt, R.L., Hodges, K.I. & Walsh, J.E. 2007. A tropospheric assessment of the ERA-40, NCEP, and JRA-25 global reanalyses in the polar regions. Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, 10.1029/2006JD007859.Google Scholar
Cherry-Garrard, A. 1922. The worst journey in the world, Antarctic, 1910–1913. Vol. 2. London: Constable and Company Ltd, 585 pp.Google Scholar
Fogt, R.L. 2005. Trip report: McMurdo, Antarctica, 18–31 Jan 2005. Retrieved from https://polarmet.osu.edu/trip_reports/trip_report_2005_fogt.pdf (accessed 3 December 2022).Google Scholar
Fogt, R.L., Jones, M.E., Solomon, S., Jones, J.M. & Goergens, C.A. 2017. An exceptional summer during the South Pole race of 1911/12. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98, 10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0013.1.Google Scholar
Miller, M. 1952. The terms ‘névé’ and ‘firn'. Journal of Glaciology, 2, 10.3189/S0022143000034195.Google Scholar
Scott, R.C., Nicolas, J.P., Bromwich, D.H., Norris, J.R. & Lubin, D. 2019. Meteorological drivers and large-scale climate forcing of West Antarctic surface melt. Journal of Climate, 32, 10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0233.1.Google Scholar
Schwerdtfeger, W. 1984. Weather and climate of the Antarctic. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 262 pp.Google Scholar
Scott, R.F. 1913. Scott's last expedition. Vol. 1. Being the journals of Captain R.F. Scott. New York: R.N. Dodd, Mead and Company, 443 pp.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.C. 1923. British Antarctic Expedition 1910–1913, Meteorology, Volume 3: tables. London: Harrison and Sons, 848 pp.Google Scholar
Solomon, S. 2002. The coldest march: Scott's fatal Antarctic expedition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 416 pp.Google Scholar
Solomon, S. & Stearns, C.R. 1999. On the role of weather in the deaths of R.F. Scott and his companions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96, 10.1073/pnas.96.23.13012.Google Scholar
Tedesco, M., Abdalati, W. & Zwally, H.J. 2007. Persistent surface snowmelt over Antarctica (1987–2006) from 19.35 GHz brightness temperatures. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, 10.1029/2007GL031199.Google Scholar
Turner, J., Phillips, T., Thamban, M., Rahaman, W., Marshall, G.J., Wille, J.D., et al. 2019. The dominant role of extreme precipitation events in Antarctic snowfall variability. Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 10.1029/2018GL081517.Google Scholar
Wille, J.D., Favier, V., Dufour, A., Gorodetskaya, I.V., Turner, J., Agosta, C. & Codron, F. 2019: West Antarctic surface melt triggered by atmospheric rivers. Nature Geoscience, 12, 10.1038/s41561-019-0460-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wille, J.D., Favier, V., Gorodetskaya, I.V., Agosta, C., Kittel, C., Beeman, J.C., et al. 2021. Antarctic atmospheric river climatology and precipitation impacts. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 126, 10.1029/2020JD033788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zou, X., Bromwich, D.H., Montenegro, A., Wang, S.-H. & Bai, L. 2021. Major surface melting over the Ross Ice Shelf part II: surface energy balance. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 147, 10.1002/qj.4105.Google Scholar