Record #00479Nature archive
Cape Denison in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica, recorded exceptionally strong katabatic winds during Mawson's 1912–1914 expedition, with a corrected annual mean of about 19.1 m/s.
Current Record
19.1m/s
Current record value
Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition established a station at Commonwealth Bay. Cold dense air descending from the Antarctic ice sheet generated powerful katabatic winds intensified by the terrain.
The original anemometer was later recalibrated in a wind tunnel, changing the strong-wind coefficient by up to 20%. Because those corrections remain debated, the historical mean is not automatically comparable to modern stations.
Credible sources support core facts; the comparison scope or corroboration remains incomplete.
Basis: direct confirmation by an authority
The NSF article supports the corrected 19.1 m/s figure and the 1912–1914 period. The anemometer recalibration is disputed, and another academic source reports 19.3 m/s, so developing is retained.
Early anemometer calibration was disputed; this is a corrected annual mean, not a peak gust or high-altitude station value.
Current Entry identifies the current entry in this archive; it does not establish that the record is still held today.
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