Antarctic Dictionary
katabatic
katabatic adjective
Of great strength.
1972 Aurora. The official journal of the ANARE club [Melbourne] Apr: 13.
A roaring, catabatic blast of approval and relief sweeps the gathered throng.
katabatic wind noun, Often just katabatic, also catabatic
[NOED records katabatic from 1918 from the Greek word 'descending'. The word is not exclusive to Antarctica, but it is here that the strongest katabatics in the world occur.]
A wind produced when cold dense air falls by gravity downslope. Because the antarctic icecap is so high and there is little impediment to falling wind, by the time such winds reach the coast they can be very strong, and can last several days, making Antarctica the king of katabatics. In Commonwealth Bay, George V Land, the highest wind speeds in the world have been recorded.
1949 Scholes, Arthur Fourteen men: story of the Australian Antarctic Expedition to Heard Island F.W. Cheshire, Melbourne: 64.
Gotley could only conjecture that it was a katabatic wind off the glaciers in Corinthian Bay.
1964 (Mawson station) Aurora. The official journal of the ANARE club [Melbourne] Nov: 5.
At Mawson the "katabatic" is the ever-present factor. What is the "katabatic"? Well, what happens is roughly this: The surface air over the plateau loses heat by radiation, and becomes colder. Air has weight, i.e. the colder the air, the denser and heavier it becomes. Air must go somewhere, so it starts flowing down the ice slopes of the Antarctic plateau by gravitation, reaching its maximum velocity near the foot of the slope, at Mawson and Wilkes, as the case may be. This stream of cold air is very shallow, in winter no more than 600-1000 feet thick, but it can attain some incredible speeds - well over 100 m.p.h. If the katabatic is accelerated by the prevailing synoptic system, such as a LOW off the coast to the east of your base, then you're for it. It was during one of those "favourable" conditions that a friend of mine, somewhat light in stature, was observed hanging by both hands from a blizzard line, his feet blown off the ground, and his wind-proof trousers blown clean off him. He returned to the rec. hut somewhat battered, proudly displaying the tying-cord of his trousers, with a few tattered pieces flapping in the wind.
1965 Aurora. The official journal of the ANARE club [Melbourne] June: 13.
Good old Mawson! When the katabatic stops at Mawson, the wind starts.
1991 Hooper, Meredith A for Antarctica: facts and stories from the frozen South Pan Books, London: 139.
Antarctica is the windiest country on Earth. The winds are dry and cold. But some are different from anywhere else. Cold air flowing off the high ice plateau sweeps down the coastal slopes in fierce, raging winds (called 'katabatic' which means 'downflowing').
1997 Chronicle of Higher Education 24 Jan: A10.
It's not the isolation, the high altitude, or even the bitter cold that makes living on this barren, snow-strewn sheet of ice seem like pure hell. It's the wind. For the past week, the relentless katabatic wind - generated by cold, dense air rushing down the slopes of the East Antarctic ice sheet - thundered past the camp with the roar of a jet engine. Traveling at 40 to 45 miles an hour, it pounded the tent walls like a jackhammer and sent stinging sheets of snow across a landscape that resembled a desert in a sandstorm.
The Antarctic Dictionary, Hince, 2000; 198
