Wright Upper Glacier ( 77°32′S 160°35′E / 77.533°S 160.583°E / -77.533; 160.583 ( Wright Upper Glacier ) ) is an ice apron at the upper west end of Wright Valley in the Asgard Range , Antarctica. It is formed by a glacier flowing east from the inland ice plateau. It was named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) (1958–59) for C. S. Wright , a member of the British Antarctic Expedition (1910–13), after whom the "Wright Glacier" (adjusted to Wright Lower Glacier by the VUWAE) was named.
16-791: Download coordinates as: The head of the Wright Upper Glacier is to the east of the Antarctic Plateau , Horseshoe Mountain and Mount Fleming. To their north, the glacier is fed by the Airdevronsix Icefalls, and to their south the Warren Icefalls and Vortex Col descend into the glacier. Mount Baldr , at the eastern end of the Asgard Range , is south of the glacier, and the Labyrinth is to
32-819: A point 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole . Shackleton named this plateau the King Edward VII Plateau in honour of the king of the United Kingdom . In December 1911, while returning from the first journey to the South Pole , the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen decided to name this plateau the King Haakon VII Plateau in honour of the newly elected king of Norway. The Antarctic Plateau
48-414: Is 920 metres (3,020 ft) wide and 400 metres (1,300 ft) high. 77°34′S 160°25′E / 77.567°S 160.417°E / -77.567; 160.417 . A col leading from the plateau into the south side of Wright Upper Glacier. At this locality, winds carrying clouds of snow from the polar plateau are deflected by Mount Fleming and funneled down this depression. The descriptive name
64-749: Is an adjudicating committee established to authorize the naming of features in the Ross Dependency on the Antarctic continent. It is composed of the members of the New Zealand Geographic Board plus selected specialists on Antarctica. This committee works in collaboration with similar place-naming authorities in Australia, Great Britain and the United States to reach concurrence on each decision. The NZ-APC committee
80-551: Is low (<103 cells/ml of snowmelt ). The microbial community is mainly composed of members of the Alphaproteobacteria class (e.g. Kiloniellaceae and Rhodobacteraceae ), which is one of the most well-represented bacterial groups in marine habitats; Bacteroidota (e.g. Cryomorphaceae and Flavobacteriaceae ); and Cyanobacteria . According to research, polar microorganisms should be considered as not only deposited airborne particles, but also as active components of
96-703: The snowpack ecology of the Antarctic Plateau. No penguins live on the Antarctic Plateau, and few birds routinely fly over it, except mostly Antarctic petrels , snow petrels and south polar skuas . There are very few land animals anywhere on the plateau, or the Antarctic in general; nematodes , springtails , mites , midges , humans and dogs. 77°00′S 150°00′E / 77.000°S 150.000°E / -77.000; 150.000 New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee ( NZ-APC )
112-471: The Deep Freeze operations and which had also carried out many important Antarctic exploratory flights. The Airdevronsix icefall is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide and 400 metres (1,300 ft) high. 77°34′S 159°57′E / 77.567°S 159.950°E / -77.567; 159.950 . A mountain just west of Mount Fleming, standing on the north side of the head of Taylor Glacier , near
128-562: The McMurdo Dry Valleys, 1995-2002. 77°33′12″S 160°26′45″E / 77.553371°S 160.445793°E / -77.553371; 160.445793 . An icefall entering the south part of Wright Upper Glacier north of Vortex Col. Named by US-ACAN (2004) after Alden Warren, Geography Discipline, United States Geological Survey; photographer (scientific and technical) in the preparation of United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps of Antarctica, 1956-2004. The Warren Icefall
144-585: The N.Z. Northern Survey Party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) (1956-58) for Doctor C.A. Fleming, Senior Paleontologist of the N.Z. Geological Survey, and Chairman of the Royal Society's Antarctic Research Committee. 77°32′08″S 160°11′58″E / 77.5355556°S 160.1994444°E / -77.5355556; 160.1994444 A rock ridge that extends northeast from Mount Fleming to
160-454: The co-pilot and the photographer. The high elevations of the Antarctic Plateau, combined with its high latitudes and its extremely long, sunless winters, mean that the temperatures here are the lowest in the world in most years, falling as low as −92 °C (−134 °F). The nearly continuous frigid winds that blow across the Antarctic Plateau, especially in the austral winter, make the environment inhospitable to life. Microbial abundance
176-554: The east. Apollo Peak at the west end of the Olympus Range is to the northeast. 77°31′S 160°22′E / 77.517°S 160.367°E / -77.517; 160.367 . A line of icefalls at the head of Wright Upper Glacier, in Victoria Land. Named by United States Navy Operation Deep Freeze (1956-57) for United States Navy Air Development Squadron Six, which had been formed to provide air support for
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#1732798460754192-495: The edge of the polar plateau. Discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (BrNAE) (1901-04) and so named because of its shape. 77°33′S 160°06′E / 77.550°S 160.100°E / -77.550; 160.100 . A mountain, over 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) high, standing at the southwest side of Airdevronsix Icefalls and Wright Upper Glacier. Named in 1957 by
208-629: The region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station . This huge continental plateau is at an average elevation of about 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). This plateau was first sighted in 1903 during the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic, which was led by Robert Falcon Scott . Ernest Shackleton became the first to cross parts of this plateau in 1909 during his Nimrod Expedition , which turned back in bad weather when it had reached
224-652: The south margin of Wright Upper Glacier, in Victoria Land. Named by US-ACAN (2004) after David Medley, PHI helicopter mechanic with United States Antarctic Project (United States ArmyP) in eight consecutive field seasons from 1996-97. 77°32′35″S 160°16′19″E / 77.543015°S 160.271998°E / -77.543015; 160.271998 A valley between Meddley Ridge and Vortex Col in west Asgard Range, Victoria Land. Named by US-ACAN (2004) after Bernard Hallet, Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; United States Antarctic Project (United States ArmyP) investigator of land surface stability in
240-411: Was first observed and photographed from the air in 1929 by a Ford Trimotor aeroplane carrying four men on the first flight to the South Pole and back to the seacoast. The chief pilot of this flight was Bernt Balchen , a native of Norway , and the navigator and chief organizer of this expedition was Richard E. Byrd of Virginia , an officer in the U.S. Navy . The other two members of its crew were
256-520: Was given by New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee (NZ-APC). [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey . Antarctic Plateau The Antarctic Plateau , Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica that extends over a diameter of about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi), and includes
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