****Dome Fuji (ドームふじ Dōmu Fuji), also called Dome F or Valkyrie Dome, is an Antarctic base located in the eastern part of Queen Maud Land. With an altitude of 3810 m above sea level, it is the second-highest summit or ice dome of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and represents an ice divide. Dome F is the site of Dome Fuji Station, a research station operated by Japan.

Discovery and naming

Dome Fuji is an ice dome rising to about 3700 m in the eastern part of Queen Maud Land. It is the highest elevation in Queen Maud Land and also the highest elevation within the claims of Norway. In 1963–1964, a Soviet Antarctic Expedition oversnow traverse crossed the northern part of the dome at an elevation of over 3600 m.

Environment

Owing to its location on the Antarctic Plateau and the high elevation, Dome Fuji is one of the coldest places on Earth. Temperatures rarely rise above -30 C in summer and can drop to -80 C in winter. The annual average air temperature is -54.3 C. The climate is that of a cold desert, with very dry conditions and an annual precipitation of about 25 mm of water equivalent, which falls entirely as ice crystals.

Dome Fuji Station

Dome Fuji Station (ドームふじ基地 Dōmu Fuji Kichi) was established as Dome Fuji Observation Base (ドームふじ観測拠点 Dōmu Fuji Kansoku Kyoten) in January 1995. Its name was changed to "Dome Fuji Station" on April 1, 2004. Located at -77.31667°N, 39.7°W, it is separated from Showa Station by about 1000 km.

Glaciology

Deep ice core drilling at Valkyrie Dome was started in August 1995, and in December 1996 a depth of 2503 m was reached. This first core covers a period back to 340,000 years. The core quality from the Dome Fuji Station is excellent, even in the brittle zone from 500 to 860 m deep, where the ice is fragile during the in situ core-cutting procedure. A second deep core was started in 2003. Drilling was carried out during four subsequent austral summers from 2003–2004 until 2006–2007, and by then a depth of 3035.22 m was reached. The drill did not hit the bedrock, but rock particles and refrozen water have been found in the deepest ice, indicating that the bedrock is very close to the bottom of the borehole. This core greatly extends the climatic record of the first core, and according to a first, preliminary dating, it reaches back 720,000 years. The ice of the second Valkyrie Dome core is therefore the second-oldest ice ever recovered, outranged only by the EPICA Dome C core.