Horsa Nunataks

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The Horsa Nunataks ( 68°56′S70°18′W / 68.933°S 70.300°W / -68.933; -70.300 Coordinates: 68°56′S70°18′W / 68.933°S 70.300°W / -68.933; -70.300 ) are an isolated group of about five partly snow-covered nunataks, more than 610 metres (2,000 ft) high, which rise above Roberts Ice Piedmont, 14 nautical miles (26 km) north of Mount Calais, in the northeastern part of Alexander Island, Antarctica. They were first photographed from the air in 1936 by the British Graham Land Expedition under John Rymill, and were surveyed from the ground in 1948 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. The names for these nunataks and for the isolated Hengist Nunatak to the south are for the brother chieftains, Hengist and Horsa, who were believed to have led the first Saxon bands which settled England in the fifth century. [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.

Nunatak Exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier

A nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. They are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural pyramidal peaks. When rounded by glacial action, smaller rock promontories may be referred to as rognons.

Roberts Ice Piedmont is a large ice piedmont, 20 nautical miles (37 km) long in a north-south direction and 15 nautical miles (28 km) wide, lying to the north and northwest of Mount Calais and occupying most of the northeast corner of Alexander Island, Antarctica. It was first seen from a distance and roughly surveyed by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10, under Charcot. It was photographed from the air by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) on August 15, 1936, and roughly mapped from these photos. It was then named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1955 after Brian B. Roberts (1912–78), a British ornithologist, polar specialist and leading figure in the development of Antarctic nomenclature; ornithologist, BGLE, 1934–37; Secretary, United Kingdom Antarctic Place-names Committee, 1945-74. About six nunataks are situated within the Roberts Ice Piedmont, these are Hengist Nunatak and the Horsa Nunataks. Both of these features are named after Saxon kings of England in the fifth century; however, they have no association or relation with Brian B. Roberts and the Roberts Ice Piedmont itself.

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Hengist Nunatak is an isolated flat-topped nunatak, more than 610 metres (2,000 ft) in height, which rises above Roberts Ice Piedmont 10 nautical miles (19 km) north of Mount Calais lying in the northeastern extremity of Alexander Island, Antarctica. It was first photographed from the air in 1936 by the British Graham Land Expedition under John Rymill, and was surveyed from the ground in 1948 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. The names for this feature and for the Horsa Nunataks to the north are for the brother chieftains, Hengist and Horsa, who were believed to have led the first Saxon bands which settled England in the fifth century.

Holtet Nunatak is a nunatak rising to about 1,300 metres (4,300 ft), 2 nautical miles (4 km) northeast of Grossenbacher Nunatak in the Lyon Nunataks of Palmer Land, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Navy, 1965–68, and from Landsat imagery taken 1973–74. It was named in 1987 by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Jan A. Holtet of the Norwegian Institute of Cosmic Physics, an upper atmospheric physicist at Siple Station, 1970–71.

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Recluse Nunatak is an isolated rock exposure lying on the Handel Ice Piedmont, midway between Haydn Inlet and the Colbert Mountains in the west-central portion of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The nunatak was first mapped from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE), 1947–48, by Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1960. The name given by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) suggests the isolated position of the nunatak, considering this landform is situated far away from other landforms of Alexander Island.

The Vesta Nunataks is a small group of nunataks rising to about 1,200 m, lying between Grikurov Ridge in the LeMay Range and Aeolus Ridge in Planet Heights, situated near the east coast of Alexander Island, Antarctica. In association with the names of planets and their satellites in this area, they were named after Vesta, an asteroid that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They were named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1987.

References

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Horsa Nunataks" (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.