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 the New Zealand party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1956–58.The glacier was chosen in 1957 as the New Zealand party's route from the Ross Ice Shelf to the Antarctic Plateau.
The Arctic Institute of North America organized two ground traverses in the antarctic summer of 1959–60 sponsored by the United States Antarctic Research Program.
The first left New Zealand's Scott Base on 16 October 1959, crossed part of the Ross Ice Shelf, and on 27 October 1959 reached the foot of the Skelton Glacier.
They traversed up the heavily crevassed glacier to a fuel cache deposited on the edge of the Victoria Land plateau by planes of the United States Navy and Air Force.
From there they travelled more than to the end station of the French 1958–59 traverse, then east toward the head of Tucker Glacier.
Glaciology
The Skelton Glacier flows from the high plateau of Victoria Land down to the west edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. It separates the Worcester Range and the Royal Society Range of the Great Antarctic Horst.The elevation in the upper névé field is over, falling to above sea level near Teall Island at its mouth on the Ross Ice Shelf.
The west and east sections of the upper glacier are fed by névé fields separated by the Névé Nunatak, Halfway Nunatak and Clinker Bluff.
The glacier is also fed by short and steep glaciers from the Worcester Range and Royal Society Range.
Across the mouth, on a line from Teall Island to Fishtail Point, ice thickness varies from, with very little of the ice grounded.
The ocean floor depth along this line varies from below sea level.
Based on 1958–59 measurements of the ice profile and velocity on this line, an estimated equivalent of of water is delivered to the Ross Ice Shelf.
A 1961 study of ice movement on the Skelton Glacier estimated that the Skelton névé field and the small cirque glaciers accumulate equivalent of of water per year, but assuming no more than 30% of this is lost to katabatic winds, it would seem that little or none of the ice delivered to the Ross Ice Shelf comes from the high Antarctic Plateau.
A study of ice-surface lowering in the upper Skelton Glacier was published in 2020.
It concluded that ice surface lowering of the glacier was caused by the retreat of grounded ice in the Ross Sea, which reduced buttressing and drew down the glacier into the Ross Sea.
Most of the lowering since the Last Glacial Maximum occurred between 15,000 and 6,000 years ago.
At Escalade Peak in the upper Skelton valley, far from the mouth, the ice surface was at least and possibly more than higher in LGM than today.
These ice elevation changes in a slow-flowing upvalley glacier are several hundred meters less than previous models predicted, which mainly focussed on elevation changes at the glacier mouths.
Course
Skelton Glacier rises in the Skelton Névé, which is fed by The Portal and the Skelton Icefalls from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.The névé lies to the east of the Boomerang Range, north of Escalade Peak and south of Portal Mountain.
Scattered nunataks in the névé include Icefall Nunatak, Mount Metschel, Névé Nunatak, Halfway Nunatak, Swartz Nunataks and Clem Nunatak.
The Skelton Glacier flows south from the southeast of the névé.
The east of the névé feeds the Upper Staircase, The Landing and the Lower Staircase.
Lower Staircase flows past Twin Rocks and is fed from the north past Stepaside Spur by Rutgers Glacier, Allison Glacier and Dale Glacier.
Further south it is fed from the east from the Royal Society Range by Potter Glacier and Wirdnam Glacier.
The Lower Staircase joins Skelton Glacier past Clinker Bluff, flowing past Mount Tricouni and Hobnail Peak, below which Skelton Glacier is joined from the east by Baronick Glacier and Cocks Glacier.
Skelton Glacier flows south along the west side of the Worcester Range, from which it is joined by Delta Glacier below Delta Bluff, Dilemma Glacier, Ant Hill Glacier below Ant Hill, and Mason Glacier below Bareface Bluff.
Between Moraine Bluff and Red Dike Bluff to the east it is joined by Trepidation Glacier.
It flows south past Alpha Bluff on Shults Peninsula to the east.
It enters the Ross Ice Shelf to the east of Evteev Glacier.
Cape Timberlake and Teall Island are to the west of the mouth.
Fishtail Point at the end of Shults Peninsula lies to the east of the mouth.
Head
Features of the névé that forms the head of the glacier, and its surroundings:Skelton Névé
The immense névé of the Skelton Glacier, lying on the west side of the Royal Society Range.Almost circular in outline, it is about in diameter and has an area of about.
Surveyed by New Zealand parties of the CTAE, who named it for its relationship to the Skelton Glacier.
The Portal
.The gap between the Lashly Mountains and Portal Mountain, through which the main stream of the Skelton Glacier enters the Skelton névé from the polar plateau.
The descriptive name was given in January 1958 by a New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
Skelton Icefalls
.Prominent icefalls extending in an arc some from Portal Mountain to the north end of Warren Range.
Named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1964 in association with Skelton Névé and Skelton Glacier.
Icefall Nunatak
.Prominent ice-free nunatak, high, lying close south of the main flow of Skelton Icefalls.
Named by US-ACAN in 1964 for its proximity to Skelton Icefalls.
Mount Metschel
.A prominent ice-free mountain, high, standing southeast of Angino Buttress and the Skelton Icefalls.
Mapped by the USGS from ground surveys and Navy air photos.
Named by US-ACAN for Cdr. John J. Metschel, USN, commander of the icebreaker USS Staten Island in the Antarctic and the Arctic in 1962 and 1963.
Metschel was killed in the Arctic, Oct. 15, 1963, while engaged in ice reconnaissance in a helicopter from his ship-
Névé Nunatak
.An isolated nunatak just north of Halfway Nunatak, between the Upper Staircase and the east side of Skelton Névé.
Surveyed in 1957 by the New Zealand Northern Survey party of the CTAE and named for its association with Skelton Neve.
Halfway Nunatak
.An isolated nunatak on the west side of The Landing, and almost in the center of the upper Skelton Glacier.
Surveyed and descriptively named in 1957 by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
Norton Crag
A rock summit at c. being the northeastern part of Halfway Nunatak, near the centre of the upper Skelton Glacier.Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after William L. Norton, U.S. Geological Survey cartographer, a member of the satellite surveying team at South Pole Station, winter party, 1991.
Upper Staircase
.The upper eastern portion of Skelton Glacier, just north of The Landing, which merges into the Skelton Névé.
Surveyed in 1957 by the New Zealand party of the CTAE and so named because of its staircase effect in being the key for the approach to the polar plateau.
Right side
Tributaries and features on the right side include, from north to south:Delta Glacier
.A glacier descending steeply from the Worcester Range between Northcliffe Peak and Delta Bluff to enter the west side of Skelton Glacier.
It was provisionally named "Cascade Glacier" because of its broken lower icefalls by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
As this name is a duplication, they renamed the glacier after nearby Delta Bluff. Not: Cascade Glacier.
Dilemma Glacier
.A steep, broken glacier descending from the Worcester Range into the west side of Skelton Glacier to the north of Ant Hill.
Mapped and named in 1957 by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
So named because of difficulties encountered by the geological party in an attempted descent of this glacier.
Ant Hill Glacier
.Glacier between Ant Hill and Bareface Bluff, rising in the Worcester Range and flowing northeast into Skelton Glacier.
Surveyed and named in 1957 by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
Named in association with Ant Hill.
Mason Glacier
.Glacier draining the east slopes of Worcester Range, immediately south of Bareface Bluff, and flowing east into Skelton Glacier.
Named by US-ACAN in 1964 for David T. Mason, biologist at McMurdo Station, 1961–62 and 1962–63.
Left Side
Tributaries and features on the left side include, from north to south:The Landing
.A large flat snowfield in the upper Skelton Glacier, between the Upper and Lower Staircases.
Mapped and named in February 1957 by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
Lower Staircase
.The lower, eastern portion of Skelton Glacier, between The Landing and Clinker Bluff.
Surveyed and given this descriptive name in 1957 by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
Twin Rocks
.Twin rock bluffs in the Lower Staircase of Skelton Glacier, about east of Halfway Nunatak, in Victoria Land.
The rocks are an important reference point on the route up the glacier.
Descriptively named by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
Stepaside Spur
.Prominent spur, high, at the east side of Upper Staircase and the Skelton Glacier.
Surveyed and named in 1957 by the New Zealand party of the CTAE, 1956–58.
Rutgers Glacier
.A steep glacier in the Royal Society Range, descending southwest from Johns Hopkins Ridge and Mount Rucker to enter the Skelton Glacier.
Mapped by the USGS from ground surveys and Navy air photos.
Named by US-ACAN after Rutgers University–New Brunswick, New Jersey, which has sent researchers to Antarctica, and in association with Johns Hopkins Ridge and Carleton Glacier.