The Support Force Glacier () is a major glacier in the

Pensacola Mountains The Pensacola Mountains () are a large group of mountain ranges and peaks that extend in a northeast–southwest direction in the Transantarctic Mountains System, Queen Elizabeth Land region of Antarctica. They comprise the Argentina Range, Forre ...

, draining northward between the

Forrestal Range The Forrestal Range () is a largely snow-covered mountain range, about long, standing east of Dufek Massif and the Neptune Range in the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica. Discovery and name The Forrestal Range was discovered and photographed on ...

and

Argentina Range The Argentina Range () is a range of rock peaks and bluffs, long, lying east of the northern part of Forrestal Range in the northeastern portion of the Pensacola Mountains of Antarctica. Discovery and name The Argentina Range was discovered a ...

to the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf.

Mapping and name

The Support Force Glacier was mapped by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS) from surveys and United States Navy air photographs in 1956–66. It was named by the United States

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) for the United States Naval Support Force Antarctica, which provided logistical support for the

United States Antarctic Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has a presence in the ...

during this period.

Location

The Support Force Glacier flows in a north-northeast direction past the

to its west. It is fed by the Chambers Glacier from the west, which separates the Saratoga Table from the Lexington Table in the Forrestal Range. Further north it passes the

to the east. The San Martín Glacier enters from the east, flowing between the

Schneider Hills The Argentina Range () is a range of rock peaks and bluffs, long, lying east of the northern part of Forrestal Range in the northeastern portion of the Pensacola Mountains of Antarctica. Discovery and name The Argentina Range was discovered a ...

and the Panzarini Hills in this range. File:Saratoga Table USGS.jpg, Upper Support Force Glacier in center of map File:C82045s1 Ant.Map Davis Valley cropped.jpg, Lower Support Force Glacier in east of map File:C82037s5 Ant.Map Argentina Range.jpg, Lower Support Force Glacier in west of map

Tributaries and features

Chambers Glacier

. A glacier in the Forrestal Range, draining east from Mount Lechner and Kent Gap, at the juncture of the Saratoga and Lexington Tables, to enter Support Force Glacier. It was discovered and photographed on January 13, 1956 on a transcontinental patrol plane flight of United States Navy

Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze is the code name for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an init ...

I from

McMurdo Sound The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant ...

to the vicinity of

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha C ...

and return. It was named by the US-ACAN after Captain Washington I. Chambers, United States Navy, one of the pioneers in the development of the airplane catapult for ships.

Thompo Icefall

. An icefall at the northeast edge of Saratoga Table between Mount Hummer and Mount Hook, in the Forrestal Range. It was mapped by USGS in 1967 from ground surveys and United States Navy aerial photographs taken in 1964. It was named by US-ACAN in 1979 after Robert W. Thompson, photographer of United States Navy Squadron VX-6 in the Balleny Islands and Sky-Hi Nunataks areas, 1963-64, and in the Pensacola Mountains, 1964-65. "Thompo" is a nickname by which he and other family members have been known.

Kovacs Glacier

. Glacier on the southeast side of Lexington Table, flowing east-northeast into Support Force Glacier in the Forrestal Range. It was named by US-ACAN in 1979 after Austin Kovacs, leader of the 1973-74 USARP-CRREL survey party (with G. Erlanger and G. Abele) in this area; also worked in the McMurdo Sound area.

San Martín Glacier

. A broad glacier flowing westward and bisecting the Argentina Range. It was mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1956-67. It was named by US-ACAN for the Argentine icebreaker ''General San Martín'', which brought the first party to General Belgrano Station on the Filchner Ice Shelf in 1954-55 and made numerous relief and resupply voyages to the area.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Glaciers of Queen Elizabeth Land Ice streams of Queen Elizabeth Land Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf Glaciers of Antarctica