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Andrews Creek
Andrews Creek () is a glacial meltwater stream which flows south along the east margin of Canada Glacier into the west end of Lake Fryxell, in Taylor Valley, Victoria Land. The name was suggested by hydrologist Diane McKnight, leader of a United States Geological Survey (USGS) team which made extensive studies of the hydrology and geochemistry of streams and ponds in the Lake Fryxell basin, 1987–94. Named after USGS hydrologist Edmund Andrews, a member of the field team who studied glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ... hydrology during the 1987–88 and 1991–92 summer seasons. References * Rivers of Victoria Land McMurdo Dry Valleys {{McMurdoDryValleys-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meltwater
Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can be produced during volcanic eruptions Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ..., in a similar way in which the more dangerous lahars form. When meltwater pools on the surface rather than flowing, it forms melt ponds. As the weather gets colder meltwater will often re-freeze. Meltwater can collect or melt under the ice's surface. These pools of water, known as subglacial lakes can form due to geothermal heat and friction. Water source Meltwater provides drinking water for a large proportion of the world's population, as well as pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canada Glacier
Canada Glacier is a small glacier flowing south-east into the northern side of Taylor Valley in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is in the Ross Dependency. Its melting season is in the summer. Description The glacier receives less than 10 cm of snowfall annually, and is (technically) an ecosystem. Its seasonal melting feeds Lake Hoare to the west and Lake Fryxell to the east. At the north side of its head sit the Hothem Cliffs. History The glacier was discovered and named in the course of the Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913), under Robert Scott. Charles S. Wright, a Canadian physicist, was a member of the party that explored the area. Antarctic Specially Protected Area An area of about 1 km2 on the eastern side of the glacier is protected under the Antarctic Treaty System as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.131 because it contains some of the richest plant growth (bryophytes and algae) in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region. It is exceptionally importan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Fryxell
Lake Fryxell is a frozen lake long, between Canada Glacier and Commonwealth Glaciers at the lower end of Taylor Valley in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was mapped in the early 1900s and named during Operation Deep Freeze in the 1950s. There are several forms of algae living in the waters and a weather station located at the lake. Geography Lake Fryxell is deep, making it so the deepest portion of the lake is below sea level. The lake is dammed by Canada Glacier, making it so that it has no natural outflow. It is covered with about of ice, but during the summer months, the ice can clear along the shoreline. There are a few small islands as well as several shallow areas. The average annual ablation is between and , which is significantly lower when compared to other nearby frozen water bodies, such as the waters adjacent to Ross Island. Watershed The watershed contains thirteen streams flowing into the lake, forming a watershed that has an area roughly in size. Where a few of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taylor Valley
Taylor Valley is the southernmost of the three large McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains, Victoria Land, Antarctica, located west of McMurdo Sound at approximately . The valley extends from Taylor Glacier in the west to McMurdo Sound at Explorers Cove at the northwest head of New Harbour in the east and is about long. It was once occupied by the receding Taylor Glacier, from which it derives its name. Taylor Valley contains Lake Bonney in the west (inward), and Lake Fryxell in the east (coastward), and Lake Hoare, Lake Chad, Lake Popplewell, Mummy Pond and Parera Pond close together between the two. Further east of Lake Bonney is Pearse Valley. Taylor Valley is separated from Wright Valley in the north by Asgard Range, and from Ferrar Glacier in the south by Kukri Hills. At its southernmost end, Taylor Valley becomes Quinn Gully, a mainly ice-free gully, which descends between MacDonald Hills and Hjorth Hill to Explorers Cove in New Harbour. It was named by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after Queen Victoria. The rocky promontory of Minna Bluff is often regarded as the southernmost point of Victoria Land, and separates the Scott Coast to the north from the Hillary Coast of the Ross Dependency to the south. The region includes ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains and the McMurdo Dry Valleys (the highest point being Mount Abbott in the Northern Foothills), and the flatlands known as the Labyrinth. The Mount Melbourne is an active volcano in Victoria Land. Early explorers of Victoria Land include James Clark Ross and Douglas Mawson. In 1979, scientists discovered a group of 309 meteorites in Antarctica, some of which were found near the Allan Hills in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diane McKnight
Diane McKnight (born March 22, 1953) is a professor of civil, environmental, and architectural engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder and a fellow at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). McKnight is a founding principal investigator of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Early life and education McKnight received a BS in mechanical engineering (1975), MS in civil engineering (1978), and her PhD in environmental engineering in 1979, all from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Career and impact After completing her graduate studies, McKnight began working for the US Geological Survey (USGS) as a research scientist for the Water Resources Division. As part of her work with USGS, she conducted research on lakes in the blast zone of Mount St. Helens in 1980. In 1996, McKnight transitioned to the University of Colorado – Boulder, where she became one of the found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
