Penguins walk on the roof of the station.
Vernadsky”, set a new snow record. The snow level has already reached 345 centimeters, which is almost half a meter more than last year's maximum, the National Antarctic Science Center reports.
It is noted that the three meters of snow cover recorded in December 2021 was also a record. They exceeded the figure of 2.65 meters recorded in 2016.
Usually the height of the snow cover near the station was no higher than two meters. Some piles near “Vernadsky” reach six meters, and on the island there are drifts up to 10 meters.
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“Since windy weather prevails here, the depth of the snow cover is unevenly distributed. There are bare rocks on which the snow never fell, and there are areas, especially near the station, which acts as an obstacle in the way of the wind, where snowdrifts are under 6 meters. The office part of “Vernadskyi” (it is lower) was snowed in on two sides, forming a kind of snow crossing: you can not go around the building, just cross the roof. By the way, that's what some penguins do,” said Anzhelika Hanchuk, meteorologist of the 27th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition.
Scientists predict that the snow level will continue to rise. The current winter turned out to be record warm: the average temperature was only slightly higher than minus two degrees Celsius.
“Due to a warm winter, more moisture is retained in the atmosphere, which leads to more intense precipitation. This is one of the reasons why there is snow accumulation on our island. In fact, this is how the ice sheet forms and grows,” Hanchuk explained.
What this year's snow cover record will be will become clear in December.
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