Geography and gravity combine here to unleash powerful katabatic winds—dense waves of cold air that rush down mountain corridors like avalanches tumbling toward the sea. The next blast hits.

The downhill winds produced are called katabatic winds. They do an efficient job controlling the maximum temperatures on the surface of the glaciers, which occur namely during the summer.

The key characteristic is that the winds are what’s known as katabatic, meaning they flow downhill, says Mingfang Ting, a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School. As the air mass drops in ...

Katabatic winds blow throughout both summer and winter seasons, with nine 6 kW turbines generating power. The highest recorded energy generation at the site was 972 kWh, in 2022. This Antarctic ...

and the Zonda winds in Argentina. These are all called katabatic winds because they move high-density air downslope. As the winds funnel through narrow mountain passes, they gather speed and ...