Conversely, the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, although they have been ice-free for thousands of years, are not necessarily polar desert: they are kept "dry" by katabatic wind.
McMurdo Station | McMurdo Sound | South Wales Valleys | McMurdo Dry Valleys | Dry county | dry | Tim Dry | Dry Drayton | Dry Creek | Murray Dry | Dry Tortugas | Dry Bones | Valleys of Neptune | south Wales valleys | Rogers Dry Lake | Madagascar dry deciduous forests | dry stone | Dry Fork, Bland County, Virginia | You Don't Miss Your Water ('Till Your Well Runs Dry) | Wet feet, dry feet policy | Valleys of Neptune (song) | Trinidad and Tobago dry forests | The Dry Salvages | Keep Your Powder Dry | Jodie Dry | International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners | Hi-n-Dry | High 'n' Dry | Hahn Super Dry | Dry Tortugas National Park |
The first expedition, which explored the McMurdo Dry Valleys was undertaken on December 30, 1957, by Peter Webb and Barrie McKelvey, two third-year geology students.
It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (1997) after Craig J. Martin, who had 10 years involvement in Antarctic construction and engineering projects at Siple Station, South Pole Station, and McMurdo Station and various field camps in the McMurdo Dry Valleys from 1977.
Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (1999) after John S. Stuckless, Department of Geology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb (later U.S. Geological Survey), who, in several seasons from 1972–73, investigated the geochemistry of McMurdo volcanic rocks, correlating samples from several Ross Island sites with DVDP core samples obtained in McMurdo Dry Valleys.
Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (1997) after Jean-Claude Thomas, Associate Professor of Geography-Cartography, Catholic University of America, 1967–76, George Mason University, 1976–85; United States Geological Survey (USGS) Cartographer from 1985, specializing in satellite image mapping at various scales, including the 1:25,000-scale color maps of McMurdo Dry Valleys, 1997.
Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (2004) after Diana Wall, Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; United States Antarctic Program (USAP) soils biologist in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, 13 field seasons, 1989-2002, most of them as a principal investigator in the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research program (MCM LTER).
It was named in 1992 by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after E. Imre Friedmann, a biologist at the Polar Desert Research Center, Florida State University, who in virtually every austral summer, 1976–87, led United States Antarctic Research Program field parties in the study of microorganisms in rocks of the McMurdo Dry Valleys.