Gale Escarpment

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Gale Escarpment ( 72°55′S75°23′E / 72.917°S 75.383°E / -72.917; 75.383 Coordinates: 72°55′S75°23′E / 72.917°S 75.383°E / -72.917; 75.383 ) is a northwest-facing escarpment of rock and ice, standing eastward of Mount Harding and Wilson Ridge in the Grove Mountains of Antarctica. It was mapped from air photos, 1956–60, by ANAPL, and was named by the Antarctic Names Committee of Australia for d'A.T. Gale, officer in charge of the Antarctic Mapping Branch, Australian Division of National Mapping, who has contributed substantially to Antarctic mapping. [1]

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

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.

Mount Harding is the largest mountain in the Grove Mountains of Antarctica, in the south-central part of the range and about 4 nautical miles (7 km) west of Gale Escarpment. It was mapped by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (1956–60) from aerial photographs, and was named by the Antarctic Names Committee of Australia for N.E. Harding, a topographic draftsman with the Division of National Mapping, Australian Department of National Development, who contributed substantially to the production of Antarctic maps.

Wilson Ridge is a prominent razorback ridge 6 nautical miles (11 km) north of Mount Harding in the Grove Mountains. Mapped by ANARE from air photos, 1956-60. Named by Antarctic Names Committee of Australia (ANCA) for R.R. Wilson, topographic draftsman, Division of National Mapping, Australian Dept. of National Development, who has contributed substantially to the compilation of Antarctic maps.

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References

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Gale Escarpment" (content from the Geographic Names Information System ).

United States Geological Survey Scientific agency of the United States government

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility.

Geographic Names Information System geographical database

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names.