Dufek Mountain ( 72°10′S24°45′E / 72.167°S 24.750°E Coordinates: 72°10′S24°45′E / 72.167°S 24.750°E ) is a large mountain rising to 3,150 metres (10,330 ft), standing 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) southwest of Mefjell Mountain in the Sør Rondane Mountains. It was mapped by Norwegian cartographers in 1957 from aerial photographs taken by the United States Navy during Operation Highjump, 1946–1947, and was named for Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, who had been commander of the Eastern Group of Operation Highjump. [1]
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.
Mefjell Mountain is a large mountain rising to 3,080 metres (10,100 ft), standing 5 nautical miles (9 km) west of Mount Bergersen in the Sør Rondane Mountains of Antarctica. It was mapped by Norwegian cartographers in 1946 from air photos taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition, 1936–37, and in 1957 from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47. It was named "Mefjell" by the Norwegians because of its central location in the mountain group.
The Sør Rondane Mountains are a group of mountains about 100 miles long with main peaks rising to 3400 m, between the Queen Fabiola Mountains and Wohlthat Mountains in Queen Maud Land. They were discovered and photographed from the air by members of the Lars Christensen Expedition on February 6, 1937, and named after Rondane, a mountain massif in southern Norway. The mountains were mapped in greater detail in 1957 by Norwegian cartographers working with air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946-47.
Dufek Coast, Dufek Head, and Dufek Massif are also named for Dufek.
The Dufek Coast is that portion of the coast along the southwest margin of the Ross Ice Shelf between Airdrop Peak on the east side of the Beardmore Glacier and Morris Peak on the east side of Liv Glacier. It was named by the New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1961 after Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, United States Navy, who served under Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd with the United States Antarctic Service, 1939–41, and as commander of the Eastern Task Force of U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47. He was Commander of U.S. Naval Support Force Antarctica, 1954–59, a period in which the following American science stations were established: McMurdo Station, Little America V, Byrd Station, South Pole Station, Wilkes Station, Hallett Station and Ellsworth Station. United States Navy ships, aircraft, and personnel under his command provided broad logistical support to research and survey operations, including aerial photographic missions to virtually all sectors of Antarctica. On October 31, 1956, Dufek in the ski-equipped R4D Skytrain aircraft Que Sera Sera, flew from McMurdo Sound via Beardmore Glacier to make the first airplane landing at the South Pole.
Dufek Head is an ice-covered headland 4.4 nautical miles northeast of Tyree Head in southern Ross Island. The headland rises to 620 metres (2,030 ft) at the east side of the terminus of Aurora Glacier. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (2000) in association with Tyree Head, after Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, U.S. Navy, Commander of the U.S. Naval Support Force Antarctica, 1954–1959.
Dufek Massif is a rugged, largely snow-covered massif 27 nautical miles (50 km) long, standing west of the Forrestal Range in the northern part of the Pensacola Mountains. It was discovered and photographed on January 13, 1956 on a transcontinental patrol plane flight of U.S. Navy Operation Deep Freeze from McMurdo Sound to the vicinity of the Weddell Sea and return, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, U.S. Navy, who was in direct operational command of U.S. Navy Task Force 43 during that operation. The entire Pensacola Mountains were mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1967 and 1968 from ground surveys and U.S. Navy tricamera aerial photographs taken in 1964.
