What drives katabatic winds?

Gravity pulling cold, dense air downhill

Katabatic Wind Quiz: Cold Air Rushing Downhill in Antarctica

This katabatic wind quiz holds on tight at the edge of the Antarctic ice sheet. Play 10 interactive questions on cold, dense air sliding downhill under gravity, how ice sheets supply chilled air, Commonwealth Bay as one of the windiest places at sea level, Douglas Mawson's Home of the Blizzard, Greenland's piteraq, night breezes in mountain valleys and blinding blowing snow.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Meaning
What does katabatic mean?
Cause
What drives katabatic winds?
Source
Where does the chilled air often come from?
Where
Which continent is famous for fierce katabatic winds?
Bay
Which Antarctic bay is among the windiest places at sea level?
Mawson
Which explorer called his base the Home of the Blizzard?
Greenland
What is a fierce Greenland katabatic wind called?
Valley
Where do small katabatic winds occur at night?
Snow
What do strong katabatic winds often carry?
Speed
How strong can Antarctic katabatic gusts be?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What does katabatic mean?
Answer: Flowing downhill
From Greek for going down.
Q2: What drives katabatic winds?
Answer: Gravity pulling cold, dense air downhill
Cold air is heavier.
Q3: Where does the chilled air often come from?
Answer: High ice sheets and plateaus
Ice cools the air above it.
Q4: Which continent is famous for fierce katabatic winds?
Answer: Antarctica
Air pours off the ice sheet.
Q5: Which Antarctic bay is among the windiest places at sea level?
Answer: Commonwealth Bay
Gusts can be extreme.
Q6: Which explorer called his base the Home of the Blizzard?
Answer: Douglas Mawson
His expedition lasted 1911 to 1914.
Q7: What is a fierce Greenland katabatic wind called?
Answer: Piteraq
It can strike suddenly.
Q8: Where do small katabatic winds occur at night?
Answer: Down mountain valleys
Cooled slopes send air down.
Q9: What do strong katabatic winds often carry?
Answer: Blowing snow
Visibility can vanish.
Q10: How strong can Antarctic katabatic gusts be?
Answer: Over 200 km/h
They batter research stations.

Gravity's Icy Winds

Katabatic, from Greek for going down, describes winds of cold, dense air that slide downhill under gravity. They form where air is chilled over high ice sheets, plateaus or snowy slopes, becoming heavier than the air around it and pouring down to lower ground.

Antarctica has the fiercest katabatic winds, as cold air pours off the ice sheet toward the coast, with gusts that can exceed 200 km/h and carry blinding blowing snow. Commonwealth Bay is among the windiest places at sea level. Douglas Mawson, whose expedition based there from 1911 to 1914, called it the Home of the Blizzard.

Greenland's fierce piteraq can strike coastal towns suddenly. On a smaller scale, gentle katabatic breezes flow down mountain valleys at night as slopes cool, bringing cold air to valley floors where frost forms first.

What This Quiz Teaches

Weather fans will enjoy these questions.

What katabatic means
How these winds form
Where they are strongest
Who described them
Where smaller ones occur

Did You Know?

Anabatic winds blow uphill by day.
Researchers rope buildings together.
Ice sheets feed the winds constantly.
Frost pockets form in valleys.
Sea ice is blown away from coasts.