We examine some aspects of the performance of the United Kingdom Meteo
rological Office's new climate model over Antarctica. Pressure and tem
perature fields are presented as a basic check on the model climate. T
he gradient of pressure between mid-latitudes and high southern latitu
des is too great, resulting in an Antarctic trough that is too deep by
4-6 hPa. Temperature is well modelled though the interior is slightly
too cold in winter. Precipitation is interesting because of its relev
ance to mass balance and therefore changes in sea level. The simulatio
n of the pattern of accumulation is good despite somewhat high values
at places in the coastal areas, with an areally-averaged value of 182
mm y-1. We also look at the phenomena of the coreless winter and the k
atabatic winds which are a consequence of the intense radiative coolin
g. These two effects may provide a useful diagnostic of the model perf
ormance.