Crane Glacier

Crane Glacier

Crane Glacier (65°20′S 062°15′W / 65.333°S 62.25°W / -65.333; -62.25), is a narrow glacier which flows 30 miles in an east-northeasterly direction through a deep trough into Exasperation Inlet, on the east coast of Antarctic Peninsula. Sir Hubert Wilkins photographed this feature from the air in 1928 and gave it the name Crane Channel, after C.K. Crane of Los Angeles, reporting that it appeared to be a channel cutting in an east-west direction across the peninsula. The name was altered to Crane Inlet following explorations along the west coast of the peninsula in 1936 by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE), which proved that no through channel from the east coast existed as indicated by Wilkins. Comparison of Wilkins' photograph of this feature with those taken in 1947 by the Falklands Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) shows that Wilkins' "Crane Channel" is this glacier, although it lies about 75 miles northeast of the position originally reported by Wilkins.[1]

The speed of Crane Glacier increased threefold after the collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002 and this is likely to be due to the removal of a buttressing effect of the ice shelf.[2]

See also

  • List of glaciers in the Antarctic
  • List of Antarctic ice streams

References

  1. ^ "Crane Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:5:::NO::P5_ANTAR_ID:3269. Retrieved 2009-11-06. 
  2. ^ Rignot, E.; Casassa, G.; Gogineni, P.; Krabill, W.; Rivera, A.; Thomas, R. (2004). "Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf". Geophysical Research Letters 31 (18): L18401. Bibcode 2004GeoRL..3118401R. doi:10.1029/2004GL020697. http://www.glaciologia.cl/textos/RignotetalGRLPeninsulaAccel.pdf. Retrieved 2011-10-22.  edit

External links

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Crane Glacier" (content from the Geographic Names Information System).


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