The glacial history of the ice-free area, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

The Victoria Valley system, Wright Valley and Taylor Valley, often referred to colloquially as the dry-valley area, together cover about 4 000 km2 in the Transantarctic Mountains west of McMurdo Sound (Fig 1) and constitute the core of the largest ice-free area in Antarctica. It is a cold desert area, with high winds, low temperatures, low precipitation, and a strong positive radiation balance (Bull, 1966).