What causes Antarctica’s powerful katabatic winds?

Antarctica’s powerful katabatic winds are caused by the cooling of air over the continent’s vast, elevated ice sheets.12

The process occurs as follows:

• Formation of Cold Air: The high-altitude polar plateau experiences extreme cold, which chills the air in contact with the surface. This creates a large dome of dense, cold air.1
• Gravity-Driven Drainage: Because this air is significantly denser than the surrounding air at lower elevations, it is pulled by gravity down the slopes of the terrain toward the coast.13
• Acceleration: Unless impeded by background wind conditions, this cold air spills off the high interior toward the lower coastal regions. The speed of these winds depends on the incline of the terrain and the distribution of the background pressure field, often reaching intense speeds that can create blizzard conditions.12

These drainage winds are a defining feature of the Antarctic climate, with some coastal areas experiencing mean annual wind speeds as high as 20 meters per second (45 miles per hour).4