Mercer Ice Stream (), formerly Ice Stream A, flows west to

Gould Coast The Gould Coast () is a portion of the coast of Antarctica along the eastern margin of the Ross Ice Shelf at Amundsen Coast between the west side of Scott Glacier and the south end of the Siple Coast (). It was named by the New Zealand Antarc ...

to the south of

Whillans Ice Stream Whillans Ice Stream () is a glaciological feature of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, formerly known as Ice Stream B, renamed in 2001 in honor of Ohio State University glaciologist Ian Whillans. Research Whillans Ice Stream is one of about a half-do ...

, Antarctica. It is the southernmost of several major

ice stream An ice stream is a region of fast-moving ice within an ice sheet. It is a type of glacier, a body of ice that moves under its own weight. They can move upwards of a year, and can be up to in width, and hundreds of kilometers in length. They ...

s draining from

Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centur ...

into the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between h ...

. The ice streams were investigated and mapped by

U.S. Antarctic Research Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

personnel in a number of field seasons from 1983–84 and named Ice Stream A, B, C, etc., according to their position from south to north. The name was changed by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

in 2002 to honor Quaternary geologist

John H. Mercer John H. Mercer (19 October 1922 – 3 July 1987) was a British glaciologist, chiefly known for his theoretical work on, and field studies of Antarctic ice streams, especially in the Transantarctic Mountains and in West Antarctica. Following Joh ...

(1922–87) of the Institute of Polar Studies (now the

Byrd Polar Research Center The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC) is a polar, alpine, and climate research center at The Ohio State University founded in 1960. History and research The Byrd Polar Research Center (BPRC) at Ohio State University was establishe ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

, who mapped the

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

s above

Reedy Glacier The Reedy Glacier is a major glacier in Antarctica, over 160 km (100 mi) long and from 10 to 19 km (6 to 12 mi) wide, descending from the polar plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf between the Michigan Plateau and Wisconsin Range, and ...

and in the

Ohio Range The Ohio Range () is a mountain range in the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. It is about 48 km (30 mi) long and 16 km (10 mi) wide, extending WSW-ENE from Eldridge Peak to Mirsky Ledge. The range forms the northeast end ...

at the head of

Horlick Ice Stream Horlick Ice Stream () is a large ice stream on the featureless ice surface to the north of the main mass of the Horlick Mountains of Antarctica, draining west-southwestward, parallel to these mountains, to enter the lower portion of the Reedy Gl ...

, the major tributaries to Mercer Ice Stream.

References

Ice streams of Marie Byrd Land {{MarieByrdLand-geo-stub

See also

References