Gilbert Glacier () is a
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 ...
about 20 nautical miles (37 km) long flowing south from
Nichols Snowfield
Nichols Snowfield () is a snowfield, 22 nautical miles (41 km) long and 8 nautical miles (15 km) wide, bounded by the Rouen Mountains and Elgar Uplands to the east and Lassus Mountains to the west, in the north part of Alexander Island, ...
into
Mozart Ice Piedmont
Mozart Ice Piedmont () is an ice piedmont, 60 nautical miles (110 km) long-running in a NW-SE direction and 15 nautical miles (28 km) wide in its widest part, on the west coast of Alexander Island, Antarctica. Mapped from air photos taken ...
, situated in northern
Alexander Island
Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarc ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
.
Photographed from the air by
Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition
The Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) was an expedition from 1947–1948 which researched the area surrounding the head of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica.
Background
Finn Ronne led the RARE which was the final privately sponsored exp ...
(RARE), 1947–48, and mapped from these photographs by D. Searle of
Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...
(FIDS), 1960. Named in association with
Sullivan Glacier
Sullivan Glacier () is a glacier flowing west into Gilbert Glacier, immediately south of Elgar Uplands in the north part of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The glacier was first sighted from a distance by the British Graham Land Expedition during ...
, after
Sir William S. Gilbert (1836–1911), the British librettist, by
United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee
The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...
(UK-APC), 1977.
See also
*
List of glaciers in the Antarctic
There are many glaciers in the Antarctic. This set of lists does not include ice sheets, ice caps or ice fields, such as the Antarctic ice sheet, but includes glacial features that are defined by their flow, rather than general bodies of ice. Th ...
*
Grotto Glacier
Grotto Glacier is a glacier on the east coast of Alexander Island, Antarctica, which flows east into George VI Sound between Belemnite Point and Ablation Point. It is long, wide where it emerges from the coastal mountains, and wide at its mouth ...
*
Lennon Glacier
Lennon Glacier () is a glacier flowing southwest into the outer part of Lazarev Bay, in northern Alexander Island, Antarctica. It was surveyed by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), 1975–76, and was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committe ...
*
Yozola Glacier
*
Glaciology
Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice.
Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, climato ...
Further reading
* M. Braun, A. Humbert, and A. Moll,
Changes of Wilkins Ice Shelf over the past 15 years and inferences on its stability', The Cryosphere, 3, 41–56, 2009 www.the-cryosphere.net/3/41/2009/
References
Glaciers of Alexander Island
W. S. Gilbert
{{AlexanderIsland-glacier-stub