Windless Bight () is a prominent bight that indens the south side of

Ross Island Ross Island is an island in Antarctica lying on the east side of McMurdo Sound and extending from Cape Bird in the north to Cape Armitage in the south, and a similar distance from Cape Royds in the west to Cape Crozier in the east. The isl ...

, Antarctica, eastward of Hut Point Peninsula. It was named by the Winter Journey Party, led by Wilson, of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–13, which encountered no wind in this area. The bight is permanently frozen. It is the site of a station that monitors

infrasound Infrasound, sometimes referred to as low frequency sound or incorrectly subsonic (subsonic being a descriptor for "less than the speed of sound"), describes sound waves with a Audio frequency, frequency below the lower limit of human audibility ...

to detect violations of the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nati ...

Location

The

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between high ...

covers over . Windless Bight is a large ice plain that covers hundreds of square kilometers of the northwest edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. It is flat and featureless, and has hardly any surface winds, as its name implies. Ross Island as a whole experiences strongly southerly winds, but Windless Bight is unusually calm. The bight extends from Castle Rock on the Hut Point Peninsula east to Terror Point.

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the southernmost active volcano on Earth, located on Ross Island in the Ross Dependency in Antarctica. With a summit elevation of , it is the second most prominent mountain in Antarctica (after Mount Vinson) and the second ...

is to the northwest, Mount Terra Nova to the north and Mount Terror to the northeast.

Cape Crozier Cape Crozier () is the most easterly point of Ross Island in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1841 during James Clark Ross's polar expedition of 1839 to 1843 with HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS ''Terror'', and was named after Commander Francis Crozi ...

is east of the bight.

Infrasonic array

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) has its IS55 infrasonic array on Windless Bight about northeast of

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is an American Antarctic research station on the southern tip of Ross Island. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is ...

. The lack of surface winds reduces background noise that might interfere with

measurement. This was confirmed by an infrasonic microphone array that was established in 1976 by the Geophysical Institute of the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-, National Sea Grant College Program, sea-, and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, space-grant research university in ...

, sponsored by the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF). The University of Alaska Fairbanks, under contract to the CTBTO, prepared the site for the IS55 infrasonic array and installed the equipment, which was completed in February 2001. After testing, IS55 was certified as an

International Monitoring System The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, or CTBTO Preparatory Commission, is an international organization based in Vienna, Austria, that is tasked with building up the verification regime of the Com ...

(IMS) station under the

on 22 August 2003. IS55 is an array of eight

microbarometer Microbarometers are sensitive barometers that can measure air pressure with high precision. Microbarometers typically have a resolution of microbars (μbar) or pascals (Pa), while ordinary barometers can only resolve in hectopascals (hPa) or m ...

sensors and space filters arranged that is divided into two sub-arrays, plus a high performance weather station at one of the arrays. Every second data on temperature, wind speed and wind direction is transmitted to a Central Recording Facility (CRF). Infrasonic data from each element of the array, along with the weather information, is formatted at the CRF into 30-second packages, which are sent by satellite link from

Brewster, Washington Brewster is a city in Okanogan County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,983 at the 2020 census. History Brewster was founded in 1896. A post office called Brewster has been in operation since 1898. The city derives its name fro ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria. A field camp for support personnel is used for several weeks each year. The team has standard remote field equipment such as snowmobiles, and stays in two Polarhavens and six individual mountain tents. During periods of use, one or two team members may return to McMurdo Station to collect supplies, and to stay overnight.

Features

Named features of the bight include, from west to east, Sultans Head Rock, Aurora Glacier, Vee Cliffs, Terror Glacier, Fog Bay and Terror Point. Cape MacKay is east of Terror Point.

Sultans Head Rock

. A rock spur along the east flank of Hut Point Peninsula, southwest of the Vee Cliffs, on the south side of Ross Island. The name was first used by the

British National Antarctic Expedition The ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–1 ...

(BrNAE) under Scott, 1901-04, in describing rocks collected there by Thomas V. Hodgson of the expedition.

Tyree Head

A headland northeast of Sultans Head Rock on the south side of Ross Island. The headland rises to over and is ice covered except for rock exposed on the lower east side. Named after Admiral David M. Tyree, United States Navy (d. 1984), Commander, U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, 1959-62.

Dufek Head

. An ice-covered headland northeast of Tyree Head. The headland rises to high at the east side of the terminus of Aurora Glacier. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (2000) in association with Tyree Head, q.v., after Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, United States Navy (United States Navy) (1903-77), Commander, United States Naval Support Force, Antarctica, 1954-59.

Aurora Glacier

. A large glacier draining that part of Ross Island between Mount Erebus and Mount Terra Nova, and flowing south into

McMurdo Ice Shelf The McMurdo Ice Shelf is the portion of the Ross Ice Shelf bounded by McMurdo Sound and Ross Island on the north and Minna Bluff on the south. Studies show this feature has characteristics quite distinct from the Ross Ice Shelf and merits individ ...

. Named by A.J. Heine in 1963 after the ''Aurora'', the ship of the Ross Sea Party of the British expedition under

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...

, 1914-17.

Vee Cliffs

. Steep, mainly ice-covered cliffs, long, between Aurora Glacier and Terror Glacier on the south shore of Ross Island. The name is suggested by two prominent V-shape wedges which protrude from the cliff wall. The name was first used by Doctor Edward A. Wilson who, with Thomas V. Hodgson of BrNAE, 1901–04, visited the cliffs in November 1903.

Eastwind Glacier

. A glacier that drains part of the south slopes of Mount Terror in southeast Ross Island. It flows southwest and coalesces with the east margin of Terror Glacier where the two glaciers enter Fog Bay. In association with the names of expedition ships grouped on this island, named after U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) ''Eastwind''. An icebreaker, "she" made nine Antarctic deployments in support of science activities from U.S. Navy (USN) Operation Deep Freeze, 1955–56, through the 1966–67 season.

Terror Glacier

. A large glacier between Mount Terra Nova and Mount Terror on Ross Island, flowing south into Windless Bight. So named by A.J. Heine of the

New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Features named by the expeditions 19 ...

(NZGSAE), 1962–63, because of its association with Mount Terror.

Fog Bay

. A small bay immediately west-northwest of Terror Point in Windless Bight, on the south side of Ross Island. So named by the Winter Journey Party, led by Wilson of the British Antarctic Expedition (BrAE), 1910-13, in July 1911 because of the thick white fog they encountered in this locality.

Terror Point

. A point below Mount Terror. It marks the east limit of Fog Bay, west-northwest of Cape MacKay. The name was first used by members of the BrNAE, 1901–04, and was apparently applied in association with Mount Terror which overlooks this point from northeastward.

Cape MacKay

. An ice-covered cape which forms the southeast extremity of Ross Island. Discovered by the BrNAE (1901–04) and named for Captain Harry MacKay, commander of the ''Terra Nova'', one of the relief ships for the expedition.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{Ross Island Bays of Ross Island