Spectral characteristics of East Antarctica meteorological parameters during 1994

A data set recorded during 1994 from the Dome Charlie and D-80 automatic we ather stations and the Dumont d'Urville meteorological station has been use d to investigate the time variation and the spatial distribution of pressur e, temperature, and wind velocity over East Antarctica. The advanced proced ures of wavelet analysis, high-resolution spectral estimation, and their co mbination were used for this study. Special attention was devoted to the te mperature behavior during winter. The surface temperature inside the contin ent shows strong oscillations with a period of similar to 10 days and a sha rp increase ranging from 20 degreesC to 40 degreesC during the winter seaso n. Cross-covariance functions between temperature and pressure at different sites were analyzed to estimate the correlation between warming events and their temporal and spatial distribution. The warming is more often associa ted with high-pressure anomalies and follows the variation of the pressure with a delay varying from some hours to 1 day. Sharp changes in wind speed and direction generally occur when the temperature increases. In such cases the wind has the tendency to blow from the W-NW sector, deflecting from th e dominant katabatic flow direction.