Glaciers of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

The Dry Valleys represent the largest ice-free region in Antarctica. A number of outlet glaciers breach the Transantarctic Mountains, but not all of them reach the sea today, leaving a unique polar desert, that many have likened to the surface of Mars. Most glaciers in this region are “cold”, that is they are well below the pressure melting point throughout. Basal temperatures are typically -10oC or lower. Summer temperatures occasionally exceed the freezing point, but melting is commonly induced by the effect of solar radiation on dark sediment resting on ice.

These photographs were taken in 2001 by Michael Hambrey during a project to investigate debris-entrainment and transfer processes in Wright Lower Glacier, organised by Sean Fitzsimons, and supported by Antarctica New Zealand. Key results were published in the following paper:

Hambrey, M.J. & Fitzsimons, S.J. 2010. Development of sediment-landform associations at cold glacier margins, Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Sedimentology, 57, 857-882. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01123.x