SITE SELECTION AND FIELD SEASON

Research activities within the framework of the France - Italy ITASE programme (http://www2.umaine.edu/itase/) were initiated not far from the site in 1996. Two traverse surveys were carried out in the Talos Dome area in November 1996 and January 2002, and sporadic field activities have been performed since 1999. Airborne radar surveys were conducted in 1997, 1999, and 2001.
 
An Automatic Weather Station (http://www.climantartide.it) commenced operations in January 2003 and has been operating since. Six shallow snow-firn cores (two in 1996 and four in 2001-02), up to 89 m deep, were drilled in the Talos Dome area. A total of 300 km of Ground Penetration Radar and kinematic GPS surveys were carried out within a 25 km radius of the domes.
 
This project sought to better understand the latitudinal (North-South) and longitudinal (East-West) environmental gradient along two East-West (Talos Dome - D66) and North-South (GV7 - Talos Dome - Taylor Dome) transects, while documenting climatic, atmospheric, and surface conditions in the Talos Dome area and northern Victoria Land over the past 200-1000 years. Surface strain networks, consisting of 9 stakes placed 8 km away from the centre of the Talos Dome summit, were established during 1996, and GPS measurements were repeated 4 times between the end of 1996 and beginning of 2005 (Nov 1996; Dec 1998; Jan 2002; Jan 2005).