Depths to Ice-cemented Soils in High-elevation Quartermain Mountains, Dry Valleys, Antarctica  View Catalog Page Entry ID
NSIDC-0529
Summary
This data set is comprised of four surveyed valleys focusing on the depth to ground ice in the high-elevation Quartermain Mountains in the Beacon Valley area: University Valley, Farnell Valley, and two unnamed valleys north of University Valley, which we will call Valley North and Valley 2 North. To date it is only in the high-elevation Dry Valleys that the climatic conditions are dry and cold enough that cryotic (always below 0°C) yet dry soil is found over ice-cemented ground (McKay et al. 1998); (Bockheim 2007). The data provide a qualitative and quantitative contribution towards understanding the type and distribution of ground ice in the Quartermain Mountains at a high spatial resolution. The measurements can be used to improve and validate models of ice stability and distribution. This data set contains observations of depth to ice-cemented ground, based on 475 measurements at 147 sites. Note that the measurements represent the thickness of the active layer plus any dry permafrost layer, which is ubiquitous in this region, and not just the thickness of the active layer.
Geographic Coverage
Spatial Coordinates:
N: -77.833333°
S: -77.9°
E: 160.816667°
W: 160.666667°
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Data Set Citation
Dataset Creator: McKay, C. P. and M. M. Marinova.
Dataset Title: Depths to Ice-cemented Soils in High-elevation Quartermain Mountains, Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Dataset Release Date: 2013-03-18
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, Colorado USA
Dataset Publisher: NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center
Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0529.html
Dataset DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5VX0DFJ
Temporal Coverage
Start Date: 2009-09-30
Stop Date: 2010-12-15
Location Keywords
- CONTINENT ANTARCTICA
Science Keywords
- Cryosphere Frozen Ground Active Layer
- Land Surface Frozen Ground Active Layer
Ancillary Keywords
- active layer observations
- Active Layer Thickness
- depth to ice-cemented ground
- Dry Permafrost
- Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere
Platform
- GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS
Instrument
Project
- NSF/OPP Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation
Quality
The precision of measurement for all methods is a couple of centimeters due to the need to drill into the ice and the difficulty of defining the reference surface plane in environments with significant surface roughness. The measured depth to ice-cemented ground is generally insensitive to the time of year during which the measurement is taken since modeled ice evaporation rates, for example seasonal depth of ice-cemented ground fluctuations, are 0.2 - 0.5 mm per year (McKay et al. 1998); (Liu et al. 2011), and these changes are significantly smaller than our measurement error. In measuring the depth to ice-cemented ground, annual and seasonal temperature variations are important only when the soil is water saturated to the surface. When a dry permafrost layer is present, seasonal and yearly variations in temperature will only affect the depth to the top of the dry permafrost layer but not the depth of the ice-cemented layer.
Data Set Progress
complete
Originating Center
NASA/ARC/AE
Data Center
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org
Data Center Personnel
Name: NSIDC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Fax: 1 303 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
- CIRES, 449 UCB
- University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA
NSIDC Antarctic Glaciological Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/agdc/
Data Center Personnel
Name: NSIDC AGDC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Fax: 1 303 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
- CIRES, 449 UCB
- University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA
Distribution
Distribution Media: FTP
Distribution Size: 19 KB
Distribution Format: comma-separated values (CSV)
Personnel
NSIDC User Services
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: 1 303 492-6199 x
Fax: 1 303 492-2468 x
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
- CIRES, 449 UCB
- University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA
Margarita M. Marinova
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 650 861-2150 x
Email: margarita.m.marinova@gmail.com
Contact Address:
- NASA Ames Research Center
- Space Sciences Division
- Mail Stop 245-3
City: Moffett Field
Province or State: CA
Postal Code: 94035-1000
Country: USA
Christopher P. McKay
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 1 650 604-6864 x
Fax: 1 650 604-6779 x
Email: chris.mckay@nasa.gov
Contact Address:
- NASA Ames Research Center
- Space Science Division
- Mail Stop 245-3
City: Moffett Field
Province or State: CA
Postal Code: 94035
Country: USA
Christopher P. McKay
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 1 650 604-6864 x
Fax: 1 650 604-6779 x
Email: chris.mckay@nasa.gov
Contact Address:
- NASA Ames Research Center
- Space Science Division
- Mail Stop 245-3
City: Moffett Field
Province or State: CA
Postal Code: 94035
Country: USA
Reference
Bockheim J. G. 2007. Soil Processes and Development Rates in the Quartermain Mountains, Upper Taylor Glacier Region. Antarctica. Geografiska Annaler, 89A, 153-165.
Dickinson W. W. and K. Hopkins. 2005. Preliminary Report on Soil and Permafrost Sampling: Beacon, Arena, and Pearse Valleys, Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Nov.-Dec. 2001. Victoria University of Wellington, Antarctic Data Series, No. 30, 41 pp.
Marinova M. M., C. P. McKay, W. H. Pollard, J. L. Heldmann, A. F. Davila, D. T. Andersen, W. A. Jackson, D. Lacelle, G. Paulson, K. Zacny, 2012. Distribution of Depth to Ice-cemented Soils in the High-elevation Quartermain Mountains, Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Antarctic Science.
McKay C. P., M. T. Mellon and E. I. Friedmann. 1998. Soil Temperature and Stability of Ice-cemented Ground in McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 10, 31-38.
McKay C. P. 2009. Snow Recurrence Sets the Depth of Dry Permafrost at High Elevations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 21, 89-94, doi:10.1017/S0954102008001508
Metadata Name and Version
Metadata Name: CEOS IDN DIF
Metadata Version: 9.7
Creation and Review Dates
DIF Creation Date: 2013-03-18
Last DIF Revision Date: 2013-03-21
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