View of the Rhone Glacier as we rise up the side in a helicopter -- a nearly vertical waterfall of ice (Dry Valleys, Antarctica).

Tags:   Rhone Glacier ice-fall helicopter flight Wright Valley dirty-ice castro Lake Vanda ventifact ventifacted wind-sculpted ventifact ridge

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View of the Taylor Glacier -- a river of flowing ice as far as the eye can see. View is looking up-valley to the east. Striations on the ridges in the distance of Taylor Valley (dark/light bandings) are just visible (Dry Valleys, Antarctica).

Tags:   helicopter flight Taylor Glacier Taylor Valley dirty-ice cirquesLake Vanda ventifact ventifacted wind-sculpted ventifact ridge

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Snow accumulation zone of Rhone Glacier, with Taylor Glacier and Taylor Valley visible in the background (and beyond that, nothing but the Polar plateau). In the foreground, "cirque" features mark the ridges.

Tags:   helicopter flight Wright Valley dirty-ice cirques Lake Vanda ventifact ventifacted wind-sculpted ventifact ridge

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Wright Valley (snow accumulation zone at top of mountains).

Tags:   helicopter flight Wright Valley dirty-ice cirques Lake Vanda ventifact ventifacted wind-sculpted ventifact ridge

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Platelets formed in a snowfield by old "dirty ice" (probably wind-blown dirt) attracting heat and causing the ice to evaporate slightly, in pockets, as it flows.

Tags:   helicopter flight Wright Valley dirty-ice Lake Vanda ventifact ventifacted wind-sculpted ventifact ridge

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