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Dome Argus |
| Dome A | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 4,091 metres (13,422 ft) |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Prominence | 1,639 metres (5,377 ft) |
| Listing | Ultra |
Dome A or Dome Argus () is an Antarctican plateau located 1200 kilometres inland. It is thought to be one of the coldest naturally occurring places on Earth, with temperatures believed to reach -90 °C. It is the highest ice feature in Antarctica, comprising a dome or eminence of 4,093 meters elevation above sea level. It is located near the center of East Antarctica, and approximately midway between the head of Lambert Glacier and the South Pole.
Dome Argus is the summit of the massive East Antarctic Ice Cap, and is not really a mountain in the conventional sense of the word (though it should be pointed out that there is no international consensus on the exact definition of a mountain). However, the East Antarctic Ice Cap is itself considered to be part of the East Antarctica Ranges, and therefore Dome Argus is considered to be the highest point in the East Antarctica Ranges.
The name "Dome Argus" was given by the Scott Polar Research Institute from Greek mythology; Argus built the ship in which Jason and the Argonauts traveled.
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Details of the morphology of this feature were determined by the SPRI-NSF-TUD airborne radio echo sounding program between 1967 and 1979.
In January 2005 a team from the Chinese National Antarctic Research Expeditions (CHINARE) traversed 1228 km from Zhongshan Station to Dome A and located the highest point of the ice sheet (4093 m above sea level) by GPS survey at 80°22’S 77°21’E on Jan 18. This point is near one end of an elongate ridge (about 60 km long and 10 km wide) which is a major ice divide and has an elevation difference along its length of only a few metres. An automatic weather station (AWS) was deployed at Dome A, and a second station was installed approximately half way between the summit and the coast at a site called Eagle (76°25'S, 77°01'E, 2830 m above sea level). These AWS are operated as part of an ongoing collaboration between China and Australia which also includes a third AWS (LGB69) at 70°50'S, 77°04'E, 1854 m above sea level which has operated since January 2002.
The coldest air temperature recorded at Dome A during 2005 was -82.5°C. The lowest air temperature (-89.2°C) at the surface of the earth was recorded in July 1983 at Vostok, which is almost 600 m lower in elevation than Dome A.
The Polar Research Institute of China established a robotic observatory called PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) on the dome in January 2008.1
The Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences[1] established a wireless network technology based observation system called DomeA-WSN on the dome in January 2008. 2
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