Nilsen Plateau () is a rugged, ice-covered plateau in
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 ...
. When including
Fram Mesa Fram Mesa () is a high, ice-capped mesa, long and wide, that forms the northeastern portion of Nilsen Plateau in the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica. The feature may have been seen by Amundsen in 1911, and it was observed and partially mapped ...
, the plateau is about 30 nautical miles (60 km) long and 1 to 12 nautical miles (22 km) wide, rising to 3,940 m between the upper reaches of the
Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen began ...
and
Scott Glaciers, in the
Queen Maud Mountains
The Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the Antarctic P ...
. Discovered in November 1911 by the Norwegian expedition under
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen bega ...
, and named by him for Captain
Thorvald Nilsen
Thorvald Nilsen (6 August 1881 – 19 April 1940) was captain of the polar ship, the ''Fram'' and deputy commander during Roald Amundsen's expedition to Antarctica (1910–12). While Amundsen conquered the South Pole, the ''Fram'' was used f ...
, commander of the ship ''
Fram
Fram may refer to:
Ships
* ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway
* MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group
Places and geography
* Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay
* Fram Formation, a se ...
''. The highest peak in Nilsen Plateau () is unnamed and has an elevation of 3940 metres.
Crown Mountain surmounts the west side of the plateau.
References
Plateaus of Antarctica
Landforms of the Ross Dependency
Amundsen Coast
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