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 ...
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 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 glaciers 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 moraines with dammed lakes of varying sizes. Further down the glacial meltwaters have formed numerous outwash plains at certain, mostly inland, locations. Only one of the glaciers originating in the Cook Ice Cap has its terminus in the Indian Ocean 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
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had a ...
Naumann Glacier Naumann is a Central German variation of the surname Neumann. Notable people with the surname include:
* Albert Naumann (1875–?), German Olympic fencer
* Alexander Naumann (1837–1922), German chemist
* Christian August Naumann (1705–?), Ger ...
''(Glacier Naumann)''
*
Explorateur Glacier
L'Explorateur is a soft-ripened French triple cream cow's-milk cheese made in the Île-de-France region of France.
''(Glacier de l'Explorateur)''
*
Ampère Glacier
The ampere or amp (symbol A) is the base unit of electric current in the International System of Units.
Ampere or Ampère may also refer to:
People
* André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), physicist, mathematician and namesake of the ampere unit
* J ...
''(Glacier Ampère)''
*
La Diozaz Glacier
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''(Glacier de la Diozaz)''
*
Lavoisier Glacier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), CNRS (
Descartes Glacier ''(Glacier Descartes)''
*
Pierre Curie Glacier
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
List of glaciers
A glacier ( ) or () is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform ...