Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 11/30/2007 - 10:19
Forums
Antarctic Ice Sheet Studies

hey, i just wanted to know what the average tempeture and the average snow depths in atartica were.have fun on your trip.

Eric Robertson

 hickmanmills highschool

Wed, 12/05/2007 - 20:51

Brandon Gillette

You'd have to look at some long range data for the yearly temperature average here in McMurdo.  That information can easily be found online.  As far as snow depths, you're looking at sea ice that can be as few as a couple meters thick to ice sheets across the continent more than 3,500 meters thick.  The snow of course wouldn't be that thick.  Eventually the snow is compacted and slowly turns to ice as the oxygen is slowly squeezed out and the crystals of the snowflakes begin to break down.  In that case you're looking at actual snow depths that may vary again from a few meters to tens of meters thick.Cheers,~Gillette