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Koettlitz Glacier () is a large
Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...
glacier lying west of Mount Morning and Mount Discovery in the
Royal Society Range The Royal Society Range () is a majestic range of mountains in Victoria Land, Antarctica, rising to along the west shore of McMurdo Sound between the Koettlitz, Skelton and Ferrar Glaciers. They are south of the Kukri Hills, southeast of the Q ...
, flowing from the vicinity of Mount Cocks northeastward between Brown Peninsula and the mainland into the ice shelf of
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 ...
.


Naming and exploration

Koettlitz Glacier was discovered by the
British National Antarctic Expedition The ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–1 ...
(1901–04) which named it for Dr. Reginald Koettlitz, physician and botanist of the expedition.


Glaciology

The Koettlitz Glacier appears to have been smaller during the
Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago. Ice sheets covered m ...
(LGM) than it is today, while 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 high ...
was larger. There is evidence that during the LGM the mouth of the
Pyramid Trough The Pyramid () is a small but distinctive peak in Antarctica just south of Pyramid Trough, at the west side of the Koettlitz Glacier. The descriptive name appears to have been first used by the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–13 (BrAE). Lo ...
was blocked by grounded Ross Sea ice until at least 11,000 years ago. In the last 3,000 years the glacier has advanced, and today the mouth of ice-free Pyramid Trough is blocked by the Koettlitz Glacier. Under this hypothesis, the glacier may have been thicker at the coast due to buttressing, but may have been no thicker, perhaps even thinner upstream due to reduced accumulation. This is in contrast to the view that glaciers feeding the Ross Sea would have been larger during the LGM due to increased accumulation, and the ice shelf smaller. The Koettlitz Ice Tongue lies along the west shore of McMurdo Sound. It is of major scientific interest due to the unique collection of fish and marine invertebrates on its ablating surface. Between 1910 and 1994 it has retreated significantly. In 1910–13 the ice front was in front of the Dailey Islands. Since then at least of ice has calved off the ice tongue. A break-out of ice in 1979 or 1980 caused about of ice to be lost from the tongue. As of 2017 only two of these islands are still connected to the ice tongue.


Course

The glacier forms to the northeast of Mount Cocks and runs northeast to the north of the Mount Discovery massif. To the north of Hooper Crags it is joined from the west by Foster Glacier and then by Reneger Glacier, below Dromedary Glacier. It continues northeast past Lake Lake Morning to the south and past Walcott Bay and Heald Island to the north. Walcott Bay is fed by Walcott Glacier and Howchin Glacier. Walcott Glacier in turn is fed by Radian Glacier, Pipecleaner Glacier and Glimpse Glacier. Past is grounding line it flows past Hahn Island at the foot of Mount Discovery. It enters the McMurdo Ice Shelf past Brown Peninsula and Bratina Island to the east. Cape Chocolate is to the west of its mouth, and
McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is an American Antarctic research station on the southern tip of Ross Island. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is ...
and
Ross Island Ross Island is an island in Antarctica lying on the east side of McMurdo Sound and extending from Cape Bird in the north to Cape Armitage in the south, and a similar distance from Cape Royds in the west to Cape Crozier in the east. The isl ...
are opposite its mouth.


Tributaries

Glaciers and streams in the catchment area of the Koettlitz Glacier are listed below. Some may not contribute to the Koettlitz Glacier.


Koettlitz Névé

A roughly circular
névé Névé is a young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted, yet precedes the form of ice. This type of snow can contribute to glacier formation through the process of ''nivation''. Névé that survives a ...
about wide at the head of Koettlitz Glacier. The névé is bounded to the west and south by Mount Talmadge, Mount Rees and Mount Cocks; to the east by Mount Morning. Named by 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) (1994) in association with Koettlitz Glacier.


Foster Glacier

. A glacier in the Royal Society Range, south of Mount Kempe, flowing southeast into the Koettlitz Glacier. Named by US-ACAN in 1963 for Major James Foster,
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
(USMC), assistant air operations officer for U.S. Navy Task Force 43 in Antarctica, 1960.


Renegar Glacier

. A steep glacier flowing southeast from Mount Dromedary into Koettlitz Glacier. Mapped by
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 ground surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1956–62. Named by US-ACAN for Lt. Garland Renegar, USN, R4D aircraft pilot at McMurdo Station, 1960. Not: Renagar Glacier.


Dromedary Glacier

. A small alpine glacier occupying a high cirque on the east side of Mount Dromedary in the Royal Society Range. Named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) (1960–61) for its proximity to Mount Dromedary.


Bulwark Stream

. A meltwater stream from Koettlitz Glacier on the east side of The Bulwark, a mountain outlier south of Walcott Bay, Scott Coast. The stream flows north and then west, following the perimeter of The Bulwark to enter Trough Lake and the Alph River system. Named by New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (1994) in association with The Bulwark.


Alph River

. A small river, flowing in summertime, on the northern side of Koettlitz Glacier, Scott Coast. It rises from Koettlitz ice at the upper end of Pyramid Trough and from south to north includes Pyramid Ponds, Trough Lake, Walcott Lake, Howchin Lake, and Alph Lake. The portion north of Pyramid Trough was explored and named in February 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition (BrAE) Western Journey Party led by
Thomas Griffith Taylor Thomas Griffith "Grif" Taylor (1 December 1880 – 5 November 1963) was an English-born geographer, anthropologist and world explorer. He was a survivor of Captain Robert Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica (1910–1913). Taylor was a ...
. He reported that the stream continues north a considerable distance under moraine and ultimately subglacially beneath Koettlitz Glacier to the Ross Sea. This led to the name from a passage in
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
’s poem ''
Kubla Khan "Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream" () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to "Kub ...
'': "Where Alph the sacred river ran, Through caverns measureless to man, Down to a sunless sea."


Walcott Glacier

. Glacier between Radian and Howchin Glaciers, descending eastward from the Royal Society Range toward Walcott Bay. Named by Taylor of the BrAE (1910–13), presumably for
Charles Doolittle Walcott Charles Doolittle Walcott (March 31, 1850February 9, 1927) was an American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, and director of the United States Geological Survey. He is famous for his discovery in 19 ...
, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (1894–1907) and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1907–28.


Howchin Glacier

. Glacier between the Ward and Walcott Glaciers, on the east side of the Royal Society Range. Discovered by a party led by Griffith Taylor of the BrAE (1910–13) and named for Prof. W. Howchin, geologist of Adelaide.


Howchin South Stream

. A meltwater stream draining from the south side of Howchin Glacier. It flows eastward into Howchin Lake southward of Howchin North Stream. Named by New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (1994) in association with Howchin Glacier.


Howchin North Stream

}. Description: A meltwater stream draining from the north side of Howchin Glacier in Denton Hills, Scott Coast. It flows eastward into Howchin Lake northward of Howchin South Stream. Named by New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (1994) in association with Howchin Glacier.


Radian Glacier

. A glacier on the east side of the Royal Society Range, descending from a high cirque just southeast of Mount Rucker and flowing east toward Walcott Glacier. In the measurements made of this glacier by the VUWAE (1960–61), one of the survey angles, by chance, was exactly one radian, and the glacier came to be referred to by this term.


Pipecleaner Glacier

. A glacier formed by the coalescence of numerous small alpine glaciers on the east side of Mount Huggins. Together with Glimpse Glacier it joins the Radian Glacier where that stream meets the north arm of Dismal Ridge. Its surface is marked by innumerable bands of moraine reminiscent of pipecleaners. Named by New Zealand VUWAE, 1960–61.


Glimpse Glacier

. An alpine glacier composed of two segments, separated by an icefall, which flow northeast from a névé in the area between Mount Kempe and Mount Huggins. It joins the Pipecleaner Glacier south of the confluence of the latter with the Radian Glacier. So named by the VUWAE, 1960–61, because it was up this glacier that the geologists traversed to the Koettlitz-Skelton divide at the ridge crest in order to gain their only glimpse of the polar plateau in January 1961.


Other features


Mount Cocks

. Mountain, high, in the south part of the Royal Society Range. It stands at the head of Koettlitz Glacier and forms a part of the divide between the Koettlitz and the lower
Skelton Glacier Skelton Glacier () is a large glacier flowing from the polar plateau into the Ross Ice Shelf at Skelton Inlet on the Hillary Coast, south of Victoria Land, Antarctica. Naming and exploration Skelton Glacier was named after the Skelton Inlet by ...
. Discovered by the BrNAE (1901–04) which named it for E.L. Somers Cocks, then Treasurer of the Royal Geographical Society.


Barlow Rocks

. A group of rocks standing below the NW slopes of Mount Morning on the south margin of upper Koettlitz Glacier. Named by US-ACAN in 1994 after Roger A. Barlow, USGS cartographer, a member of the satellite surveying team at South Pole Station, winter party 1992.


Hooper Crags

. A rocky spur long, lying at the south side of Foster Glacier in the Royal Society Range. Named by US-ACAN in 1963 for Lt. Benjamin F. Hooper, helicopter pilot with U.S. Navy Squadron VX-6, who wintered at McMurdo Station in 1960.


Lake Morning

. An ice lake, nearly long, lying north of Mount Morning along the east side of the Koettlitz Glacier. Mapped by USGS from ground surveys and Navy air photos. Named in 1963 by US-ACAN in association with Mount Morning.


Walcott Bay

. A bay indenting the coast of Victoria Land between Walcott Glacier and Heald Island. Named by the BrAE (1910–13) in association with Walcott Glacier.


Heald Island

. An island, long and high, which projects through the ice of the Koettlitz Glacier just east of Walcott Bay. Discovered and named by the BrNAE (1901–04) for Seaman William L. Heald, a member of the expedition who saved the life of Ferrar when the latter was suffering from scurvy in 1902.


Hahn Island

. Island long, lying north of Mount Discovery, on the east side of Koettlitz Glacier. Mapped by USGS from ground surveys and Navy air photos. Named by US-ACAN in 1963 for Cdr. James Hahn, USN, public information officer on the staff of the Commander, U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, for several years preceding 1963.


Cape Chocolate

. Small, dark cape forming the south side of Salmon Bay on the coast of Victoria Land. It is made up of morainic material from the west margin of the Koettlitz Glacier. Discovered by the BrNAE (1901–04) under Scott, and probably so named because of the color of the morainic material.


References


Sources

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