The Cook Ice Cap or Cook Glacier (
or ''Glacier Cook'') is a large
ice cap in the
Kerguelen Islands in the
French Southern Territories zone
Zone or The Zone may refer to:
Places Climate and altitude zones
* Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span
* Frigid zone, ...
of the far
Southern Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
.
Geography
The Cook Ice Cap reaches a maximum elevation of in its central area.
GoogleEarth
Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
It had a surface of approximately in 1963, having shrunk to about in recent times.
Named after British explorer
James Cook (1728–1779), on French navigational charts of the early 20th century this ice cap appears as 'Glacier
Richthofen'
Transpolair
''L'Illustration
''L'Illustration'' was a weekly French newspaper published in Paris from 1843 to 1944. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in France then, after 1906, the ...
'' 11 September 1909, no 3472
Glaciers
About sixty glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
s flow from the inner ice cap in a roughly radial pattern. At the feet of the snout of these outlet glaciers there are often terminal moraine
A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...
s with dammed lakes of varying sizes. Further down the glacial meltwaters have formed numerous outwash plain
An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and c ...
s at certain, mostly inland, locations. Only one of the glaciers originating in the Cook Ice Cap has its terminus
Terminus may refer to:
* Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination
* Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination
Geography
*Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...
in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
at the Anse des Glaçons in southeastern Kerguelen's deeply indented coastline.[Institut polaire français Paul Émile Victor : ]
La fonte spectaculaire du plus gros glacier français
'
The following are the main glaciers listed clockwise:
* Agassiz Glacier ''(Glacier Agassiz)''
* Chamonix Glacier ''(Glacier de Chamonix)''
* Dumont d'Urville Glacier ''(Glacier Dumont d'Urville)''
* Vallot Glacier
Vallot Glacier () is a glacier flowing northwest to Laubeuf Fjord close south of Lewis Peaks, on Arrowsmith Peninsula in Graham Land. It was mapped by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) from surveys and air photos, 1948–59, and was ...
''(Glacier Vallot)''
* Naumann Glacier ''(Glacier Naumann)''
* Explorateur Glacier ''(Glacier de l'Explorateur)''
* Ampère Glacier ''(Glacier Ampère)''
* La Diozaz Glacier ''(Glacier de la Diozaz)''
* Lavoisier Glacier ''(Glacier Lavoisier)''
* Descartes Glacier ''(Glacier Descartes)''
* Pierre Curie Glacier ''(Glacier Pierre Curie)''
* Pasteur Glacier ''(Glacier Pasteur)''
* Mariotte Glacier ''(Glacier Mariotte)''
* Cauchy Glacier ''(Glacier Cauchy)''
See also
* List of glaciers
References
Ice caps
Glaciers of France
Landforms of the Kerguelen Islands
Subantarctic glaciers
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