The bay is listed in both the Guinness Book of World Records and the Eighth Edition of the National GeographicAtlas as the windiest place on Earth with winds regularly exceeding 240 kilometres (150 mi) per hour and an average annual wind speed of 80 kilometres (50 mi) per hour.
Storms are caused by katabatic wind, a concentrated flow of cold air moving along the steep surface of the ice shield towards the sea. The air flow is accelerated by the increasing gradient of the surface of ice and the cliff monolith at Cape Denison. In the summer there are periods of relative calm but during winter storms are especially strong and long lasting, and can start and end unexpectedly. An abrupt start and end of storm might be accompanied by powerful whirlpools and expressive short-lived and fast-moving clouds at the coast line.[1]
The population of a colony of Adelie penguins here has crashed from 160,000 to 10,000, since 2011. A giant iceberg the size of Rome got stuck, and the colony is now effectively landlocked.[2]
References
^Ball, F.K. (1956), The Katabatic Winds of Adelie Land and King George V Land.
^Malkin, Bonnie (13 February 2016). "150,000 penguins die after giant iceberg renders colony landlocked". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
commonwealth, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, december, 200. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Commonwealth Bay news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km 30 mi wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay Named by Australasian Antarctic Expedition after the Commonwealth of Australia A photoprint of Commonwealth Bay taken during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1912 USGS satellite view of the Bay Contents 1 Katabatic Wind 2 Adelie penguin population crash 3 References 4 External linksKatabatic Wind EditThe bay is listed in both the Guinness Book of World Records and the Eighth Edition of the National Geographic Atlas as the windiest place on Earth with winds regularly exceeding 240 kilometres 150 mi per hour and an average annual wind speed of 80 kilometres 50 mi per hour Storms are caused by katabatic wind a concentrated flow of cold air moving along the steep surface of the ice shield towards the sea The air flow is accelerated by the increasing gradient of the surface of ice and the cliff monolith at Cape Denison In the summer there are periods of relative calm but during winter storms are especially strong and long lasting and can start and end unexpectedly An abrupt start and end of storm might be accompanied by powerful whirlpools and expressive short lived and fast moving clouds at the coast line 1 Despite the extreme weather the coast of Commonwealth Bay is an important breeding area for Antarctic petrels emperor penguins and Adelie penguins which means that there are also Leopard seals Adelie penguin population crash EditThe population of a colony of Adelie penguins here has crashed from 160 000 to 10 000 since 2011 A giant iceberg the size of Rome got stuck and the colony is now effectively landlocked 2 References Edit Ball F K 1956 The Katabatic Winds of Adelie Land and King George V Land Malkin Bonnie 13 February 2016 150 000 penguins die after giant iceberg renders colony landlocked The Guardian Retrieved 28 April 2018 External links EditLife On Commonwealth Bay by Reuters journalist Pauline Askin Commonwealth Bay photographs on FlickrCoordinates 66 54 S 142 40 E 66 900 S 142 667 E 66 900 142 667 This George V Land location article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Commonwealth Bay amp oldid 1056801819, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
