<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Analyses of shallow cores obtained at the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) drilling site Kohnen station (75°00′ S, 00°04′ E; 2892 m a.s.l.) on the plateau of Dronning Maud Land reveal the presence of conserved snow dunes in the firn. In situ observations during three dune formation events in the 2005/06 austral summer at Kohnen station show that these periods were characterized by a phase of 2 or 3 days with snowdrift prior to dune formation which only occurred during high wind speeds of &gt;10 m s<jats:sup>-1</jats:sup> at 2 m height caused by the influence of a low-pressure system. The dune surface coverage after a formation event varied between 5% and 15%, with a typical dune size of (4 ± 2) m × (8 ± 3) m, a maximum height of 0.2 ± 0.1 m and a periodicity length of about 30 m. The mean density within a snow dune varied between 380 and 500 kg m<jats:sup>-3</jats:sup>, whereas the mean density at the surrounding surface was 330 ± 5 kgm<jats:sup>-3</jats:sup>. The firn cores covering a time-span of 22 ± 2 years reveal that approximately three to eight events per year occurred, during which snow dunes had been formed and were preserved in the firn.</jats:p>