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Victoria Valley, Antarctica

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Victoria Valley Soil Climate Research Station

Victoria Valley Soil Climate Station

Victoria Valley station is one of seven long-term soil-climate stations in Antarctica that were set up such that the effects of latitude, elevation, and soil age could be studied. The Victoria Valley station was established in January of 1999 and is one of two stations located in the Dry Valleys. The Victoria Valley station is at an elevation of 410 m (1,350 ft) in an area of patterned ground. This station monitors soil temperature to a depth of 120 cm, soil water content (10, 33, 83, 91, and 106 cm depths), air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and wind (speed and direction). Measurements are made at 20-minute intervals and averaged and recorded every hour.

Project Personnel

  • University of Washington, Seattle, WA
    • Ron Sletten
  • Landcare Research, Hamilton, New Zealand
    • Jackie Aislabie
    • Malcolm McLeod
  • Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand
    • Megan Balks
  • University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
    • David Saul
  • USDA-NRCS
    • Cathy Seybold, National Soil Survey Center
    • Debbie Harms, National Soil Survey Center
    • Gary Schaefer, National Water & Climate Center
    • Ron Paetzold (Retired)
    • Don Huffman (Retired)

Victoria Valley Readings

Station data files contain a lot of data and are therefore very large files. It is recommended that you download the file before viewing it. To do so, right-click the link and select "Save Target As..." or select the save option in the File Download dialog box.

Last Modified: 05/14/2008

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