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Immediate report of Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition 1989-90: VUWAE 34

Proposed Programme

Proposed Programme

Work in the Miers has focused on quantifying various components of the energy balance for the valley. This work has significant implications to the current discussion of global warming and its likely impact on world sea levels. The Miers was chosen for this study as ft is a relatively small and simple valley with few inputs and outputs, all of which can be readily monitored.

Besides monitoring various climatic parameters and their control on the stream flow the affects of the available energy on geomorphic processes were also measured. The Miers valley provided a study area in which several experiments could be undertaken and replicated without the need for laboratory flume studies and the confusion caused by soils and vegetation in more temperate regions.

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During the 1989-90 season, work concentrated on four projects looking at various aspects of climatically controlled processes operating in the Miers Valley. These projects were:
1.Continuation of the monitoring of stream flow and various climatic parameters which may be controlling its timing and volume.
2.Monitoring and attempting to quantify the fluvial sediment transport processes.
3.An attempt to quantify the albedo of the various surficial materials (including glacier and lake ice, and water) and relating this to the distinctive "patterned" ground found throughout the valley.
4.Measurement of changes in the Miers and Adams glaciers and testing the practicality of using "terrestrial" photogrammetric techniques to monitor changes in the terminal faces of the glaciers.

The Miers Valley was chosen for this study because it has only two contributing glaciers, the Miers and Adams, each of which drains from a different aspect. This work builds on field work in the area by two members of the research team during the previous field season.

It is hoped that the data collected during the past two field seasons will permit:
1.The evaluation of the seasonal variability of glacier behaviour and surface water hydrology.
2.An improved understanding of the energy and mass balances of the glacier-river-lake system in the Miers Valley, which typifies such systems in the Dry Valleys region.
3.The development of a water balance for the Miers Valley hydrologic system.
4.The quantification of sediment sources, the relative importance of sediment transporting media, and how these vary both spatially and temporally.
5.Quantification of the albedo (reflective) properties of the various surficial materials found throughout the valley.

Although some of these areas of study have been attempted in other areas of Antarctica (e.g., the Wright Valley) these studies have tended to be inconclusive because of the intensity of sampling and the complexity of the systems investigated.