Mercury Glacier

Mercury Glacier is a glacier on the east coast of Alexander Island in the British Antarctic Territory

The glacier is five nautical miles long and two nautical miles wide, flowing slowly eastwards into George VI Sound between the Waitabit Cliffs and Keystone Cliffs.

This glacier was probably first sighted from a distance by Lincoln Ellsworth, who flew near it and photographed segments of this coast on 23 November 1935. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee for the planet Mercury following rough surveys from George VI Sound by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1948 and 1949. The glacier was mapped in detail from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–48, by D. Searle of the FIDS in 1960.

Although Mercury Glacier is not located within the Planet Heights, it is named in association with the heights along with many other nearby glaciers named after planets of the Solar System.

See also

• Venus Glacier
• Mars Glacier
• Jupiter Glacier
• Saturn Glacier
• Uranus Glacier
• Neptune Glacier
• Pluto Glacier

Location

• Location map: 71°34’0"S, 68°13’60"W

References

• Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Mercury Glacier