Challenger Glacier is a
tidewater glacier on the north side of
Heard Island
The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall size ...
in the southern
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. Located east of
Baudissin Glacier
Baudissin Glacier () is a tidewater glacier on the north side of Heard Island. in the southern Indian Ocean. Located 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) west of Challenger Glacier, Baudissin Glacier is 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) wide and flows ...
, Challenger Glacier is wide and flows into the eastern side of
Corinthian Bay
Corinthian Bay () is a bay, which is wide and recedes , entered between Rogers Head and Saddle Point on the north coast of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The name appears on an early chart compiled by American sealers. It was probably ...
, close west to
Saddle Point
In mathematics, a saddle point or minimax point is a point on the surface of the graph of a function where the slopes (derivatives) in orthogonal directions are all zero (a critical point), but which is not a local extremum of the function ...
.
To the east of Challenger Glacier is
Downes Glacier
Downes Glacier () is a broad tidewater glacier on the north side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It flows north on both sides of Cape Bidlingmaier to the north coast of Heard Island. To the east of Downes Glacier is Ealey Glacier, ...
, whose terminus is located at
Mechanics Bay
Mechanics Bay ( mi, Te Tōangaroa) is a Land reclamation, reclaimed bay on the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It is also the name of the area of the former bay that is now mainly occupied by commercial and port facilities. Some ...
, between Saddle Point and
Cape Bidlingmaier. To the west of Challenger Glacier is Baudissin Glacier, whose terminus is located at the western side of Corinthian Bay, near
Sealers Cove.
Discovery and naming
The glacier appears to have been first charted by the
Gauss expedition
The ''Gauss'' expedition of 1901–1903 (also known as the ''Deutsche Südpolar-Expedition 1901–1903)'' was the first German expedition to Antarctica. It was led by geologist Erich von Drygalski in the ship , named after the mathematician and p ...
under
Erich von Drygalski
Erich Dagobert von Drygalski (; February 9, 1865 – January 10, 1949) was a German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg, East Prussia.
Between 1882 and 1887, Drygalski studied mathematics and natural science at t ...
, 1901–03, who portrayed a single large glacier flowing into Corinthian Bay. In 1948 the
Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions
The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE ) is the historical name for the Australian Antarctic Program (AAp) administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).
History
Australia has had a long involv ...
(ANARE) determined that more than one glacier discharges into Corinthian Bay. ANARE applied the name Challenger Glacier to the easternmost of these glaciers to commemorate the work of the British
Challenger Expedition, 1873–76.
References
Further reading
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External links
*Clic
here to see a map of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, including all major topographical features
Australian Antarctic DivisionAustralian Antarctic GazetteerComposite Gazetteer of AntarcticaAustralian Antarctic Names and Medals Committee (AANMC)United States Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)
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{{Glaciers of Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Glaciers of Heard Island and McDonald Islands