As part of a regular series on the meaning of place names in the Territory, this latest edition focuses on an area which honours a number of prominent glaciologists – Arrowsmith Peninsula.
John F Nye (1923-2019) was a prominent figure in the field of glaciology. He was the first to apply plasticity to understand glacier flow and ice-sheet behaviour, driving a new area of study within glaciology. Nye Glacier (67°27’06”W, 67°26’29”S) is named for him, and was first surveyed from Stonington Island by the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (FIDS) in 1948.
Other places on Arrowsmith Peninsula also have names of prominent glaciologists, such as Reid Glacier (67°16’59”W, 67°25’59”S) which is named after Harry Fielding Reid (1859-1944) who studied glacier flow and stratification in Alaska and the Alps.
Vallot Glacier (67°24’36”W, 67°20’31”S) and Heim Glacier (66°54’23”W, 67°26’49”S) are named after Joseph Vallot (1854-1925) who first measured the surface velocity of a glacier over a long period, and Albert Heim (1849-1937), who was the first to consider glaciers from microstructure to world-wide distribution.
Credit
With thanks to the British Antarctic Survey for the image and text.