Comberiate Glacier () is a glacier flowing west from the
Royal Society Range
The Royal Society Range () is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. With its summit at , the massive Mount Lister forms the highest point in this range. Mount Lister is located along the western shore of McMurdo Sound between the Koett ...
between
Berry Spur Berry Spur () is a mostly ice-covered spur in Antarctica, located between McDermott Glacier and Comberiate Glacier on the west side of the Royal Society Range, Victoria Land. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Russell ...
and
Utz Spur Utz Spur () is a ridge named after Loreen G. Utz, United States Geological Survey (USGS) cartographer, a member of the satellite surveying team at South Pole Station
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is th ...
. It was named by the
Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names
The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica.
History
The committee was established ...
(1994) after
Michael A. Comberiate, who was instrumental in developing a system for satellite communications to and within Antarctica, the South Pole Satellite Data Link (SPSDL).
This system uniquely used scientific polar-orbiting satellites not intended for communications, but visible to the South Pole every 100 minutes or so. No geostationary communication satellites could see beyond 81 degrees South, so there were no conventional alternatives. This system included the first steerable satellite antenna at the Pole (90S) and another at McMurdo near the coast (77.8S x 167.4E). These antenna tracked every pass of several polar-orbiting satellites and sent data to each other on the satellite's ranging channel, during the windows of co-visibility. The system in McMurdo had a separate link to the continental USA via geostationary communications satellites.
SPSDL operated routinely for about a decade; starting on December 19, 1984.
SPSDL was a pathfinder for use of steerable antennas in the antarctic, for communications and for launch and on-orbit support.
References
*
Glaciers of Victoria Land
Scott Coast
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