Surface temperature distribution in Lutzow-Holm Bay and its neighborhood

Abstract

All the NOAA/AVHRR thermal infrared images received at Syowa Station from February 1990 to January 1991 were analyzed to make temperature distribution maps. From this analysis the warmer area in midslope, i. e. the so-called thermal belt (D. GREENLAND, The Encyclopedia of Climatology, ed. by OLIVER and FAIRBRIDGE, 594,1987), appeared on the ice sheet slope along the coast around Lutzow-Holm Bay, especially on the Soya Coast, frequently in winter. The relationship between the thermal belt on the Soya Coast and the surface inversion layer over Syowa Station was investigated. When the surface inversion layer thickness increased, the thermal belt was displaced toward the interior or higher part of the ice sheet slope. However, even if the surface inversion layer appeared over Syowa Station, the thermal belt did not necessarily appear. The appearance or absence of the thermal belt on the ice sheet slope is considered to correspond to how the surface inversion layer over the ice sheet, a katabatic wind, connects with the surface inversion layer over the foot of the slope.