Hercules Dome () is a large

ice dome Glacier morphology, or the form a glacier takes, is influenced by temperature, precipitation, topography, and other factors. The goal of glacial morphology is to gain a better understanding of glaciated landscapes and the way they are shaped. Ty ...

between the

Thiel Mountains The Thiel Mountains are an isolated, mainly snow-capped mountain range of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Ellsworth Land region of Antarctica. The mountain range is long, and is located roughly between the Horlick Mountai ...

and the

Horlick Mountains The Horlick Mountains are a mountain range in the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. Some sources indicate that the designation includes the Ohio Range, the Long Hills, and all of the Wisconsin Range, while others suggest that it includes o ...

in Antarctica. The feature was first mapped by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

from

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

aerial photographs taken 1959–60. It was further delineated by the

Scott Polar Research Institute The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south o ...

–

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

–

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fi ...

airborne aerial radio echo sounding program, 1967–79, and named after the

Lockheed LC-130 Hercules The Lockheed LC-130 is a ski-equipped United States Air Force variant of the C-130 Hercules used in the Arctic and Antarctic. Ten are currently in service with the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard. Design and development T ...

aircraft which was used on all echo sounding flights from 1969. The dome is notable for its unusually high number of

subglacial lake A subglacial lake is a lake that is found under a glacier, typically beneath an ice cap or ice sheet. Subglacial lakes form at the boundary between ice and the underlying bedrock, where gravitational pressure decreases the pressure melting point ...

References

Ice caps of Antarctica Bodies of ice of Marie Byrd Land {{MarieByrdLand-geo-stub