Antarctic Wind Machine

The violent wind that blows northward from the Adelie Coast of Antarctica has been a meteorological mystery since it was first studied by Sir Douglas Mawson in 1912. In winter it often blows for long periods at 90 m.p.h., and gusts may reach 200 m.p.h. While the wind is roaring on the Adelie Coast, the air may be almost calm in McMurdo Sound, just to the east.

The localness of the Adelie wind suggested that it might be caused by some peculiar topographical feature in inland Antarctica, but no one was sure until U.S. Navy airplanes recently explored the region between the South Pole and Wilkes Land. According to Dr. Paul A. Siple, just returned from Antarctica, the flying explorers found a great sloping trough 200 to 300 miles wide between a high mountain range west of the Ross Ice Shelf and a dome of ice. The trough leads south from the coast, and its high inland end may reach the South Pole (see map). During the Antarctic winter, says Dr. Siple, the high interior of Antarctica becomes extremely cold. Its heavy, cold air flows down the sloping trough like water running down a flume. A little of it spills through gaps in the mountains, but most of it goes all the way to the coast, gaining enormous speed and spreading over the sea as a howling Antarctic gale.

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