The Scott Glacier is a major

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 ...

, long, that drains the

East Antarctic Ice Sheet The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is one of two large ice sheets in Antarctica, and the largest on the entire planet. The EAIS lies between 45° west and 168° east longitudinally. The EAIS holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by and ...

through 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 Antarcti ...

to the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

. The Scott Glacier is one of a series of major glaciers flowing across the

Transantarctic Mountains The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) comprise a mountain range of uplifted (primarily sedimentary rock, sedimentary) rock in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria La ...

, with the

Amundsen Glacier Amundsen Glacier () is a major Antarctic glacier, about 7 to 11 km (4 to 6 nmi) wide and 150 km (80 nmi) long, originating on the polar plateau where it drains the area to the south and west of Nilsen Plateau, and descendin ...

to the west and the Leverett and Reedy glaciers to the east.

Geography

The Scott Glacier originates on the

Antarctic Plateau The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica which extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This h ...

in the vicinity of D'Angelo Bluff and Mount Howe, and descends between the

Nilsen Plateau Nilsen Plateau () is a rugged, ice-covered plateau in Antarctica. When including Fram Mesa, 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 Amu ...

and the mountains of the Watson Escarpment to enter

just west of the Tapley Mountains. The Tapley Mountains, Watson Escarpment,

Mount Blackburn Mount Blackburn is the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska in the United States. It is the fifth-highest peak in the United States and the twelfth-highest peak in North America. The mountain is an old, eroded shield volcano, the se ...

, and the

La Gorce Mountains The La Gorce Mountains () are a group of mountains, spanning , standing between the tributary Robison Glacier and Klein Glacier at the east side of the upper reaches of the Scott Glacier, in the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica. They were disco ...

bound the Scott Glacier on its eastern margin, while the Karo Hills,

Hays Mountains The Hays Mountains () are a large group of mountains and peaks of the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica, surmounting the divide between the lower portions of Amundsen Glacier and Scott Glacier and extending from the vicinity of Mount Thorne on the ...

, Faulkner Escarpment, and Rawson Mountains define the western edge of the Scott's drainage.

History

Scott Glacier was discovered in December 1929 by the

Byrd Antarctic Expedition Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...

geological party under

Laurence Gould Laurence McKinley Gould (August 22, 1896 – June 21, 1995) was an American geologist, educator, and polar explorer. He made expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic, and was chief scientist on Richard Evelyn Byrd's first Antarctic expeditio ...

. The Scott Glacier was named by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

(US-ACAN) after early Antarctic explorer

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

, who never saw the Scott Glacier but rather ascended the Beardmore Glacier to the west en route to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

in 1911–12. It was first ski traversed in January 1990 by

Martyn Williams Martyn Elwyn Williams, (born 1 September 1975) is a former Wales and British & Irish Lions international rugby union player. A flanker, he was Wales' most-capped forward with 100 caps until surpassed by Gethin Jenkins on 30 November 2013. He ...

(Canada, the leader and guide) and Jerry Corr (USA) traveling from the South Pole to the Ross Ice Shelf and then by Mike McDowell (Australia) in 1992, on a ski traverse from the South Pole to the coast. Thus Williams and Corr were the first people to traverse Antarctica under human power as described in the book ''The Snotsicle Traverse'' by Jerry Corr.

Geography

History

See also

References

Further reading