Ice Stories: Dispatches From Polar Scientists » ripples http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:40:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Ripple in Still Water… http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/ripple-in-still-water%e2%80%a6/ http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/ripple-in-still-water%e2%80%a6/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:11:54 +0000 Zoe Courville http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/?p=1521 …when there is no pebble tossed, and unfortunately, plenty of wind to blow.

January 21, 2009
Weather: Partly cloudy, -25 C, wind 8 kts

RECOVERY LAKE ‘B’, ANTARCTICA– We are currently camped out in the Recovery Lakes region, and one of the main features of the snow surface is that it is flat, flat, flat. Hardly a sastrugi (wavelike ridge on the surface of hard snow) in sight larger than a few centimetres high. But there are still plenty of snow surface features to get excited about. Here at this camp spot, there are these neat patches of ripples dotting the landscape. Out on a ski this evening, I spotted multitudes of cups dug out of the snow surface as well. The features are created by the wind, which we’ve had plenty of the last couple of days, along with the return of colder temperatures. Summer is over on the Antarctic Plateau!


Ripples in the snow near our camp.
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