Dome Fuji (ドームふじ ''Dōmu Fuji''), also called Dome F or Valkyrie Dome, is an Antarctic base located in the eastern part of
Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land ( no, Dronning Maud Land) is a roughly region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east. In addi ...
at . With an altitude of above sea level, it is the second-highest summit or ''ice dome'' of the
East Antarctic Ice Sheet
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is one of two large ice sheets in Antarctica, and the largest on the entire planet. The EAIS lies between 45° west and 168° east longitudinally.
The EAIS holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by and ...
and represents an
ice divide An ice divide is the boundary on an ice sheet, ice cap or glacier separating opposing flow directions of ice, analogous to a water divide. Ice divides are important for geochronological investigations that use ice cores, since such coring is typic ...
. Dome F is the site of Dome Fuji Station, a research station operated by
Japan.
Discovery and naming
Dome Fuji is an ice dome rising to about in the eastern part of
Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land ( no, Dronning Maud Land) is a roughly region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east. In addi ...
. In 1963–1964, a
Soviet Antarctic Expedition
The Soviet Antarctic Expedition (SAE or SovAE) (russian: Советская антарктическая экспедиция, САЭ, ''Sovetskaya antarkticheskaya ekspeditsiya'') was part of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the S ...
oversnow traverse crossed the northern part of the dome at an elevation of over .
Environment
Owing to its location on the
Antarctic Plateau
The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica which extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This h ...
and the high elevation, Dome Fuji is one of the coldest places on Earth. Temperatures rarely rise above in summer and can drop to in winter. The annual average air temperature is . The climate is that of a cold desert, with very dry conditions and an annual precipitation of about of water equivalent, which falls entirely as
ice crystals
Ice crystals are solid ice exhibiting atomic ordering on various length scales and include hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, dendritic crystals, and diamond dust.
Formation
The hugely symmetric shapes are due to depositional growth, n ...
.
Dome Fuji Station
Dome Fuji Station (ドームふじ基地 ''Dōmu Fuji Kichi'') was established as Dome Fuji Observation Base (ドームふじ観測拠点 ''Dōmu Fuji Kansoku Kyoten'') in January 1995. Its name was changed to "Dome Fuji Station" on April 1, 2004. Located at , it is separated from
Showa Station by about .
Glaciology
Deep
ice core drilling at Valkyrie Dome was started in August 1995, and in December 1996 a depth of was reached. This first core covers a period back to 340,000 years.
The core quality from the Dome Fuji Station is excellent, even in the
brittle zone from deep, where the ice is fragile during the in situ core-cutting procedure.
A second deep core was started in 2003. Drilling was carried out during four subsequent austral summers from 2003–2004 until 2006–2007, and by then a depth of was reached. The drill did not hit the bedrock, but rock particles and refrozen water have been found in the deepest ice, indicating that the bedrock is very close to the bottom of the borehole. This core greatly extends the climatic record of the first core, and according to a first, preliminary dating, it reaches back 720,000 years.
The ice of the second Valkyrie Dome core is therefore the second-oldest ice ever recovered, outranged only by the
EPICA Dome C core.
See also
*
List of Antarctic research stations
*
List of Antarctic field camps
Many Antarctic research stations support satellite field camps which are, in general, seasonal camps. The type of field camp can vary – some are permanent structures used during the annual Antarctic summer, whereas others are little more than te ...
*
Airports in Antarctica
*
Troll (research station)
Troll is a Norwegian research station located at Jutulsessen, from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is Norway's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by t ...
*
Asuka Station (Antarctica)
The is a permanent Japanese Antarctic unmanned observation base. It is located on Queen Maud Land and was opened in 1985.
See also
* List of Antarctic research stations
* List of Antarctic field camps
Many Antarctic research stations support ...
*
Mizuho Station (Antarctica)
*
Showa Station (Antarctica)
, sometimes alternately spelled Syowa Station, is a Japanese permanent research station on East Ongul Island in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Built in 1957, Showa Station is named for the era in the Japanese calendar during which it was establi ...
*
Vostok Station
Vostok Station (russian: ста́нция Восто́к, translit=stántsiya Vostók, , meaning "Station East") is a Russian research station in inland Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica. Founded by the Soviet Union in 1957, the station ...
*
Climate of Antarctica
The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth. The continent is also extremely dry (it is a desert), averaging of precipitation per year. Snow rarely melts on most parts of the continent, and, after being compressed, becomes the glacier ic ...
References
External links
Dome Fuji Deep Ice Coring Project contains downloadable data for the first core
National Institute of Polar Research Tokyo, Japan
Institute of Low Temperature Science Sapporo, Japan
COMNAP Antarctic FacilitiesCOMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map
{{Antarctica
Mountains of Queen Maud Land
Ice caps of Antarctica
Outposts of Queen Maud Land
Japanese Antarctic Program
Prince Harald Coast
1995 establishments in Antarctica