Mountain wave cloud over the Antarctic Peninsula

Warm mountain winds known as foehn are an important driver of surface melt over the ice shelves found on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The mountain wave cloud, or roll cloud, depicted here reveals a small overturning circulation in the atmosphere, generated by airflow over the crest of the Peninsula during a deep foehn event. Such circulations and associated turbulence act to mix the atmosphere in the vertical – one of four mechanisms by which foehn is known to transport heat to the earth's surface and increase melt rates over ice shelves and glaciers.