Snow and Climatic Characterization Influencing Snowmelt at McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station is a research facility located on an outcrop of barren volcanic rock on the southern tip of Ross Island, Antarctica. The station was built and overtime it has evolved with more infrastructure changes, including adding facilities (buildings, cargo pads, etc.), and road network modifications. As a consequence, and because of McMurdo's unique environment, runoff during periods of heavy flow has created flow paths under and around buildings, and across roads and parking lots. McMurdo watershed is bounded by high ridges and sloping hills of barren volcanic rock, extending to perennial snow and ice fields, and down to McMurdo Sound. Runoff from the watershed is mostly from snowmelt as it is rare for liquid precipitation to be observed at McMurdo. In order to understand the extent of the problem, site characterization was conducted of the entire watershed during the summer season (2009/2010). The characterization included measurement of subsurface soil conditions and the critical drivers that influence the runoff (i.e. snow properties, temperature, solar gain, etc.). This paper will highlight the results related to snow properties and climatic characteristics of the area.