Polar Plateau (near Shapeless Mountain) S 77° 21.092′, E 159° 52.226′

Fig.9: Nora Patterson and Matt Hill excavating a snow pit

The climatic system of the Dry Valley area is complex. In order to interpret the climate record contained in the ice cores from Victoria Lower Glacier it is necessary to trace air mass trajectories and to distinguish between marine and continental influences. For this reason snow profiles have been sampled along a transect from the coast towards the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during the 2000/2001 season. To complete this transect a snow profile representative for the polar plateau has been sampled (Fig.9). The samples will be used to identify page 4 the characteristics of continental air masses and to quantify global dust input. The snow was sampled with 1cm resolution in 60ml HDPE Nalgene bottles (Fig.10). The snow profile temperatures will be compared with the measurements from Victoria Lower Glacier.

Fig.10: Nancy Bertler collecting snow samples