This is an Accomplishment-Based Renewal grant to continue research on the planetary boundary layer in East Antarctica. The region under study is quite large and generates extremely variable, and sometimes very strong winds. The main tools of the study are a chain of automatic weather stations stretching over 1,000 km from the coast to Dome C and another chain along the Adelie Coast. There are also several instrumented towers. In addition satellite microwave images will be used to study areas of the sea near the coast that are keep ice free by the katabatic winds. Increased effort will be put into attempting to model the gravity driven windfield to try to better understand the source of the great variability. This is a part of a much larger collaboration between the French and Australian Antarctic Programs and USARP. This grant also provides for the support of an undergraduate student under the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program.
