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Admiralty Glacier

Coordinates: 77°04′N 24°11′W / 77.067°N 24.183°W / 77.067; -24.183
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Admiralty Glacier
Admiralty Gletscher
Admiralty Glacier Sentinel-2 image. The Ad Astra Ice Cap is seen on the lower right.
Map showing the location of Admiralty Glacier
Map showing the location of Admiralty Glacier
Location within Greenland
TypePiedmont glacier
LocationQueen Louise Land
Coordinates77°04′N 24°11′W / 77.067°N 24.183°W / 77.067; -24.183
Width5 km (3.1 mi)
TerminusBritannia Lake

Admiralty Glacier (Danish: Admiralty Gletscher) is a glacier in Queen Louise Land, northeastern Greenland.[1] Administratively it belongs to the Northeast Greenland National Park.

History

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The glacier was mapped during the 1952–54 British North Greenland expedition led by Commander James Simpson. It was named after the British Admiralty in order to commemorate the assistance given to the expedition by the Royal Navy.[2]

Geography

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The Admiralty Glacier is one of the main glaciers in northern Queen Louise Land. It flows from the Greenland Ice Sheet from west to east the first 20 km (12 mi), slightly bending to the north of Trefork Lake and flowing roughly northeastwards. The Ad Astra Ice Cap lies to the east of its lower stretch. The glacier has its terminus in the Støvdal valley at the Britannia Lake, near the southern end of the Britannia Glacier.[2]

The structure of the cliffs on either side of Admiralty Glacier was examined by the British North Greenland expedition geologists. Expedition member and glaciologist Hal Lister wrote the following from a campsite at the glacier itself:

The striking rock-colours of reds, browns and blacks were edged with snow that was rose-coloured in the fading sun. Ice lakes on the glacier looked beautifully blue, but were very slippery and, in the lakes that filled little basins at the foot of the valley walls, fallen stones looked ominously cold and imprisoned... The whole atmosphere was of gaunt grandeur, terrific and awesome beneath the jagged, pinnacled cliffs.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Google Earth
  2. ^ a b "Place names, northern East Greenland". data.geus.dk. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  3. ^ Spencer Apollonio, Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland, 2008, p. 286
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