The Byrd 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 ...

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 ...

, about long and wide, draining an extensive area of the polar plateau and flowing eastward between the Britannia Range and

Churchill Mountains The Churchill Mountains are a mountain range group of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Ross Dependency region of Antarctica. They border on the western side of the Ross Ice Shelf, between Byrd Glacier and Nimrod Glacier. Seve ...

to discharge into 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 ...

Barne Inlet Barne Inlet () is a reentrant (an inlet formed by two spurs of land) on the west side of the Ross Ice Shelf, on the coast of Antarctica. It lies between Cape Kerr and Cape Selborne. It is about wide, and is occupied by the lower part of Byrd G ...

. Its valley below the glacier used to be recognised as one of the lowest points not to be covered by water on Earth (assuming ice doesn't count as water), reaching below sea level. It was named by the NZ-APC after Rear Admiral

Byrd Byrd commonly refers to: * William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623), an English composer of the Renaissance * Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957), an American naval officer and explorer Byrd or Byrds may also refer to: Other people * Byrd (surname), includin ...

US 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 ...

Antarctic explorer. On the south side of Byrd Glacier is

Blake Massif Blake Massif () is a compact block of ridgelines without a prominent culminating summit, rising to approximately on the south side of Byrd Glacier in Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated ...

References

Ice streams of Antarctica Glaciers of Oates Land Glaciers of Hillary Coast {{OatesLand-glacier-stub

See also

References