Panoramas: McMurdo Dry Valleys - Taylor Valley

The so-cal­led McMur­do Dry Val­leys, west of McMur­do Sound in the Ross Sea, are among­st Antarctica’s high­lights in terms of sce­n­ery and natu­ral histo­ry inte­rest. They are among­st the lar­gest most­ly ung­la­cia­ted land-are­as in Ant­ar­c­ti­ca. The reason is the lack of pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on: the­re is sim­ply none, apart from some snow that is blown through the val­leys by the wind, which can be vio­lent. The val­leys appear com­ple­te­ly dead, the only life the­re is micro­bes that are not visi­ble with the naked eye and live main­ly in the few melt­wa­ter lakes and streams. Some of the­se are even hyper-sali­ne. Occa­sio­nal­ly, a con­fu­sed seal comes up into the val­leys from McMur­do Sound, losing track in the Ant­ar­c­tic desert, and then dies far away from the coast. Dried by cold and wind, their mum­mies have been res­t­ing in the Dry Val­leys for cen­tu­ries and can still be seen.

Tou­rists may only visit a limi­t­ed area near Cana­da Gla­cier in Tay­lor Val­ley. This area is far away from the coast and can only be rea­ched by heli­c­op­ter.

Das Pano #antarktis_19 wur­de durch fol­gen­des Pano ersetzt:

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