| Alatna Valley | |
|---|---|
  Alatna Valley | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Antarctica |
| Coordinates | 76°53′S 161°10′E / 76.88°S 161.17°E |
Alatna Valley (76°53′S 161°10′E / 76.883°S 161.167°E) is an ice-free valley lying 4 nautical miles (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) north of Mount Gran and trending east-northeast for about 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) along the southeast side of the Convoy Range, Antarctica.[1]
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Dalton Discoveries: Gates of the Arctic
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Gates of the Arctic National Park 2015
Transcription
{music} {Narrator}: Lying entirely north of the Arctic Circle, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is the premier wilderness park within the national park system. Rivers and forests, mountain and valleys remain virtually unchanged, except by the forces of nature. {Greg Dudgeon} My name is Greg Dudgeon, and I'm the superintendent for Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. while I live in Fairbanks, Alaska, I have the opportunity and the responsibility for protecting and sharing the eight million acres of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve with the American people. The origins of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve go back some twelve thousand years, when man started to move back into the area at the end of the last ice age, and did so in order to harvest the resources that were available there once the ice melted from the landscape. In the 1920s and the 1930s, Americans like Bob Marshall started traveling into the area because it was one of the last empty places on the map in Alaska. People that were looking for places that they could go to and have a sense that no one else had stepped foot in the same place that they were at again. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is unique in a number of ways. For one, of course, the the park is eight million acres - roughly the size of Switzerland. There are no roads, there are no trails, there are very few maintained facilities, and those are are generally just small cabins. Gates of the Arctic has six designated Wild Rivers, and even though it's primarily a place of mountains and high, frigid peaks, within the valleys of those mountains are the corridors for migratory wildlife such as caribou, moose, bears, Dall sheep, and birds that fly from nearly every continent to spend the summers there, where they raise their young. It's a place where the natural environmental uniqueness of the Arctic can be experienced up close and personal. {Narrator}: Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve lies west of the Dalton Highway, straddling the crest of the Brooks Range for nearly two hundred miles. Most visitors arrive by bush plane from local villages or hike in off the Dalton Highway. Others call this wilderness home. Gates of the Arctic is an inhabited wilderness, with two distinct Alaskan native cultures living in or near the park. The Koyukon Athabaskan live primarily in the boreal forest in the south side the park. The Nunamiut Eskimo generally live farther north. Both the Koyukon Athabaskan and Nunamiut Eskimo fish, hunt and gather in the park, and sustain age-old connections to the land. {Dudgeon}: I look at a place like Gates of the Arctic, this immense, large, preserved wilderness area, and it makes me proud of, and it puts me in touch with - if you will - the the history of this nation, the natural and the cultural history of who we are as a people. The landscaper is wild, the wildlife there, the natural ecosystems that are intact, the place looks like just exactly the way it was when it was created, and because it's a part of the National Park Service system, the mission and the goal there is to main- is to manage it and protect it in a way that people, decades, generations from now, will see it and experience it just as we do today. {music}
Exploration and naming
Parker Calkin, U.S. geologist, made stratigraphic studies in the valley during the 1960-61 season. Named by US-ACAN in 1963 for the USNS Alatna which participated in Operation Deep Freeze 1958-59 and 1959–60, and in keeping with other ship names in the Convoy Range.[1][a]
Location
The Alatna Valley is to the southeast of Staten Island Heights. Benson Glacier flows east from below the east end of the valley. The Gran Glacier flow south from the valley into the Mackay Glacier.[3]
Glaciers
Scudding Glacier
76°54′S 160°45′E / 76.900°S 160.750°E. An abrupt glacier, 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) long, descending into the end of Alatna Valley from the south side of Mount Gunn in the Convoy Range. This high elevation glacier is adjacent to the névé of Cambridge Glacier and snow laden katabatic winds make their first descent into Alatna Valley over the glacier. Even on days of relatively light winds, snow clouds derived from the high névé may be seen swirling and scudding down this glacier. So named by the 1989-90 New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme (NZARP) field party to the area.[4]
Sharpend Glacier
76°52′S 160°56′E / 76.867°S 160.933°E. An alpine glacier, 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) long, which flows into Alatna Valley from the south end of Staten Island Heights. Descriptively named from the pointed terminus of this glacier by a NZARP field party to the area, 1989-90.[5]
Wildwind Glacier
76°52′S 161°10′E / 76.867°S 161.167°E. A substantial mountain glacier, 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) wide, which flows southward into Alatna Valley, draining both the Staten Island Heights and Mount Razorback areas. So named by a 1989-90 NZARP field party because strong and persistent winds in this vicinity have cut major flutings through the ice-cliffed terminus of the glacier.[6]
Midship Glacier
76°52′S 161°30′E / 76.867°S 161.500°E. A broad flat glacier filling the bulk of Alatna Valley and having its origin on the slopes of Mount Morrison to the south. From 1957 this ice body was considered part of Benson Glacier. However, it was determined by a 1989-90 NZARP field party (Trevor Chinn) that although it abuts against the main Benson Glacier at Jetsam Moraine, this glacier makes no contribution of ice to the Benson as its dominant ice flow is northward across its length. With the identification of Midship Glacier as a distinct feature, the application of Benson Glacier has been restricted to the ice flowing eastward from Flight Deck Neve" to the terminus in Granite Harbor. Approved by US-ACAN in 1993 as recommended by the NZGB.[7]
Lugger Glacier
76°58′00″S 160°50′00″E / 76.9666667°S 160.8333333°E. A broad glacier, 3.6 nautical miles (6.7 km; 4.1 mi) long, which occupies the upland northward of Mount Bergen and Mount Gran and flows north to the head of Alatna Valley. Named by New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (c. 1980) in association with the names of ships grouped in Convoy Range; lugger being a small vessel with four-sided sails.[8]
Other features
Cargo Pond
76°55′S 161°05′E / 76.917°S 161.083°E. A pond in a moraine enclosed basin at the foot of the cliffs to the south end of Alatna Valley, in the Convoy Range of Victoria Land. This frozen pond was the site of a 1960-61 USARP field party (Parker Calkin, Roger Hart, and Ellory Schempp) which had to be evacuated in a hurry. Equipment and provisions stockpiled on the pond ice were eventually redistributed by the wind and lodged among the surrounding morainic boulders. A 1989-90 NZARP party (Trevor Chinn) camped nearby made frequent visits to the site to clean up the area, but also to acquire various 30-year old exotic foods to supplement their standard camp fare.[9]
Rum Pond
76°54′S 161°07′E / 76.900°S 161.117°E. The larger and eastern of two closely spaced frozen ponds in the floor of Alatna Valley. The name is one of a group in Convoy Range reflecting a nautical theme. Named after this traditional naval beverage by a 1989-90 NZARP field party.[10]
Tot Pond
76°54′S 161°07′E / 76.900°S 161.117°E. The smaller and western of two closely spaced frozen ponds in the floor of Alatna Valley, filled by overflow from the larger adjacent Rum Pond. Named by a 1989-90 NZARP field party (Trevor Chinn) in association with Rum Pond; in nautical circles a tot is a traditional small issue of rum.[11]
Notes
References
- ^ a b Alberts 1995, p. 9.
- ^ Map of the McMurdo Dry Valleys.
- ^ Convoy Range USGS.
- ^ Alberts 1995, p. 658.
- ^ Alberts 1995, p. 667.
- ^ Alberts 1995, p. 813.
- ^ Alberts 1995, pp. 489–490.
- ^ Lugger Glacier USGS.
- ^ Alberts 1995, p. 119.
- ^ Alberts 1995.
- ^ Alberts 1995, p. 754.
Sources
- Alberts, Fred G., ed. (1995), Geographic Names of the Antarctic (PDF) (2 ed.), United States Board on Geographic Names, retrieved 2024-01-30
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Board on Geographic Names. - Convoy Range, USGS: United States Geological Survey, retrieved 2024-01-30
- "Lugger Glacier", Geographic Names Information System, United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior
- "Map of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Area" (PDF), www.antarcticanz.govt.nz, archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2008, retrieved October 26, 2008
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.
This page was last edited on 2 April 2024, at 16:44