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McMurdo Dry Valleys, Landsat 7 imagery acquired on December 18, 1999 The Dry Valleys are so named because of their extremely low humidity and lack of snow or ice cover. They are also dry because, in this location, the mountains are sufficiently high that they block seaward-flowing ice from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet from reaching the Ross
McMurdo Station is an American Antarctic research station on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand–claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation .
The McMurdo Volcanic Group is a large group of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the western Ross Sea and central Transantarctic Mountains areas of Antarctica. [1] It is one of the largest provinces of alkaline volcanism in the world, having formed as a result of continental rifting along the West Antarctic Rift System.
Observation Hill is a steep 754-foot (230 m) hill adjacent to McMurdo Station in Antarctica and commonly called "Ob Hill". It is frequently climbed to get good viewing points across the continent. Regular clear skies give excellent visibility.
Geographical map of Antarctica. Lying on the Pacific Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains, West Antarctica comprises the Antarctic Peninsula (with Graham Land and Palmer Land) and Ellsworth Land, Marie Byrd Land and King Edward VII Land, offshore islands such as Adelaide Island, and ice shelves, notably the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf on the Weddell Sea, and the Ross Ice Shelf on the Ross Sea.
Ross Island is an island in Antarctica lying on the east side of McMurdo Sound and extending 43 nautical miles (80 km; 49 mi) from Cape Bird in the north to Cape Armitage in the south, and a similar distance from Cape Royds in the west to Cape Crozier in the east. The island is entirely volcanic.
The Wright Valley is the central one of the three large McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains, located west of McMurdo Sound. Wright Valley contains the Onyx River, the longest river in Antarctica, Lake Brownworth, the origin of the Onyx River, and Lake Vanda, which is fed by the Onyx River.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys lie near McMurdo Sound and represent a special Antarctic phenomenon: landscapes that are snow and ice-free due to the extremely limited precipitation and ablation of ice in the valleys. The highest mountain of the TAM is the 4,528 m (14,856 ft) high Mount Kirkpatrick in the Queen Alexandra Range.