Sif Glacier
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Sif Glacier ( da, Sifs Gletscher), 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 ...
in northern
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
. Administratively it belongs to the
Northeast Greenland National Park Northeast Greenland National Park ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, da, Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world's largest national park and the 10th List of largest protected areas in the world, largest protected area (the only large ...
.


History

The Sif Glacier was seen during aerial surveys by
Lauge Koch Lauge Koch (5 July 1892 – 5 June 1964) was a Danish geologist and Arctic explorer. Biography Lauge Koch was born in 1892 to Karl and Elisabeth Koch. His development as a scientist was greatly influenced by his father's second cousin Johan Pet ...
and was named after
Sif In Norse mythology, Sif (Old Norse: ) is a golden-haired goddess associated with earth. Sif is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century ...
, the goddess representing
Mother Earth Mother Earth may refer to: *The Earth goddess in any of the world's mythologies *Mother goddess *Mother Nature, a common personification of the Earth and its biosphere as the giver and sustainer of life Written media and literature *Mother Earth ...
in
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
. The glacier was first explored from the ground by the
British Joint Services The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services. History Background In August 2010 the then Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, as ...
Expedition in 1969.


Geography

The Sif Glacier is a slow-moving glacier located in Johannes V. Jensen Land, roughly in the middle of the
Roosevelt Range The Roosevelt Range or Roosevelt Mountains ( da, Roosevelt Fjelde) is a mountain range in Northern Greenland. Administratively this range is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park. Its highest peak is the highest point in Peary Land. Locat ...
. It flows in a WSW/ENE direction from the
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 ...
of the
Mary Peary Peaks The Mary Peary Peaks ( da, Mary Peary Tinder) are a mountain in the Roosevelt Range, Peary Land, Northern Greenland. Administratively they belong to the Northeast Greenland National Park. The peaks were named by Robert Peary after his mother, ...
, bifurcating south of the Birgit Koch Peaks with one arm flowing roughly northwards and another southwards until their terminuses in the Northern and in the Southern Tvillingesø (Twin Lakes) respectively.Arctic Report, 121
/ref> The northern branch of the Sif Glacier ends in a valley open to the north with its mouth in
Constable Bay Constable Bay ( da, Constable Bugt) is a bay in the Wandel Sea, Northern Greenland. Administratively Constable Bay and its surroundings belong to the Northeast Greenland National Park. Constable Bay is the northernmost bay in the world. The area ...
, where it formed prominent terminal
moraines A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
in the past.The terminal moraine in Constable Bugt
/ref>


See also

*
List of glaciers in Greenland This is a list of glaciers in Greenland. Details on the size and flow of some of the major Greenlandic glaciers are listed by Eric Rignot and Pannir Kanagaratnam (2006) Ice sheets and caps *Greenland Ice Sheet * Christian Erichsen Ice Cap * Fla ...
*
Peary Land Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the north ...


References


External links


Early to middle Holocene valley glaciations on northernmost Greenland The terminal moraine in Constable BugtGreenland North Coast - Jeff Shea
Glaciers of Greenland Roosevelt Range {{Greenland-geo-stub