The Cook Ice Cap or Cook Glacier ( or ''Glacier Cook'') is a large

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features ...

in the

Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, a large ...

in the

French Southern Territories The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (french: Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, TAAF) is an Overseas Territory (french: Territoire d'outre-mer or ) of France. It consists of: # Adélie Land (), the French claim on the continent ...

zone Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

of the far

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 ...

Geography

The Cook Ice Cap reaches a maximum elevation of in its central area.

GoogleEarth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users ...

It had a surface of approximately in 1963, having shrunk to about in recent times. Named after British explorer

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

(1728–1779), on French navigational charts of the early 20th century this ice cap appears as 'Glacier Richthofen'Transpolair
''

L'Illustration ''L'Illustration'' was a weekly French language, French newspaper published in Paris from 1843 to 1944. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in France then, a ...

'' 11 September 1909, no 3472

Glaciers

About sixty

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 ...

s flow from the inner ice cap in a roughly radial pattern. At the feet of the snout of these outlet glaciers there are often

terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...

s with dammed lakes of varying sizes. Further down the glacial meltwaters have formed numerous

outwash plain An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and ca ...

s at certain, mostly inland, locations. Only one of the glaciers originating in the Cook Ice Cap has its

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

in the

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 ...

at the Anse des Glaçons in southeastern Kerguelen's deeply indented coastline.Institut polaire français Paul Émile Victor :
La fonte spectaculaire du plus gros glacier français
' The following are the main glaciers listed clockwise: * Agassiz Glacier ''(Glacier Agassiz)'' * Chamonix Glacier ''(Glacier de Chamonix)'' * Dumont d'Urville Glacier ''(Glacier Dumont d'Urville)'' *

Vallot Glacier Vallot Glacier () is a glacier flowing northwest to Laubeuf Fjord close south of Lewis Peaks, on Arrowsmith Peninsula in Graham Land. It was mapped by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) from surveys and air photos, 1948–59, and was n ...

''(Glacier Vallot)'' * Naumann Glacier ''(Glacier Naumann)'' * Explorateur Glacier ''(Glacier de l'Explorateur)'' * Ampère Glacier ''(Glacier Ampère)'' * La Diozaz Glacier ''(Glacier de la Diozaz)'' * Lavoisier Glacier ''(Glacier Lavoisier)'' * Descartes Glacier ''(Glacier Descartes)'' * Pierre Curie Glacier ''(Glacier Pierre Curie)'' * Pasteur Glacier ''(Glacier Pasteur)'' * Mariotte Glacier ''(Glacier Mariotte)'' * Cauchy Glacier ''(Glacier Cauchy)''

References

Ice caps Glaciers of France Landforms of the Kerguelen Islands Subantarctic glaciers {{FrenchSouthernTerritories-geo-stub

Geography

Glaciers

See also

References