Dome F
Valkyrie Dome, also known as Dome Fuji (ドームふじ Dōmu Fuji), Dome F, or Valkyrjedomen, is located in the eastern part of Queen Maud Land at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. With an altitude of 3,810 m or 12,500 ft above sea level, it is the second-highest summit or ice dome of the East Antarctic ice sheet and represents an ice divide. Dome F is the site of Dome Fuji Station, a research station operated by Japan.
Contents
Discovery and naming
Valkyrie Dome is an ice dome rising to about 3,700 m in the eastern part of Queen Maud Land. In 1963-64, a Soviet Antarctic Expedition oversnow traverse crossed the north part of the dome at an elevation of over 3,600 meters. The feature was delineated by the SPRI-NSF-TUD airborne radio-echo sounding program, 1967-79. It was named Valkyrie Dome after the Valkyrie of Norse mythology, who carried those that had fallen in battle to Valhalla.
Environment
Owing to its location on the Antarctic plateau and the high elevation, Valkyrie Dome is one of the coldest places on Earth. Temperatures rarely rise above -30°C in summer and can drop to -80°C in winter. The annual average air temperature is -54.3°C. The climate is that of a cold desert, with very dry conditions and an annual precipitation of about 25 millimeters of water equivalent, which falls entirely as ice crystals.[1]
Dome Fuji Station
Dome Fuji Station (ドームふじ基地 Dōmu Fuji Kichi) was established as "Dome Fuji observation base" (ドームふじ観測拠点 Dōmu Fuji Kansoku Kyoten) in January 1995. Its name was changed to "Dome Fuji Station " on April 1, 2004. Located at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., it is separated from Showa Station by about 1,000 km.
Glaciology
Deep ice core drilling at Valkyrie Dome was started in August 1995, and in December 1996 a depth of 2503 m was reached. This first core covers a period back to 340,000 years.[2][3]
The core quality from the Dome Fuji station, East Antarctica, is excellent even in the brittle zone from 500 to 860 m deep, where the ice is fragile during the 'in situ' core-cutting procedure.[4]
A second deep core was started in 2003. Drilling was carried out during four subsequent austral summers from 2003/2004 until 2006/2007, and by then a depth of 3035.22 m was reached. The drill did not hit the bedrock, but rock particles and refrozen water have been found in the deepest ice, indicating that the bedrock is very close to the bottom of the borehole. This core greatly extends the climatic record of the first core, and, according to a first, preliminary dating, it reaches back until 720,000 years.[5] The ice of the second Valkyrie Dome core is therefore the second-oldest ice ever recovered, only outranged by the EPICA Dome C core.
See also
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References
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External links
- Dome Fuji Deep Ice Coring Project
- Dome Fuji page of the World Data Center (WDC) for Paleoclimatology, contains downloadable data for the first core
- National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan
- Institute of Low Temperature Science, Sapporo, Japan
- COMNAP Antarctic Facilities
- COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map
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