Ninnis Glacier

The Ninnis Glacier is a protruding into the Southern Ocean glaciers on the Antarctic continent. It lies in the claimed area of Australia Victoria Land.

Naming

In December 1911, the Australasian Antarctic expedition started under the leadership of the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson. The aim of the expedition was the first mapping of about 2,000 kilometers of the Australian continent facing coastline. Furthermore, the expedition of exploration and research served previously unknown terrains, also the first meteorite found in Antarctica comes from this expedition.

In November 1912 began three polar explorers - the Australian Mawson, Xavier Mertz of the Swiss and British Belgrave Ninnis - a multi-week exploration of King George V land by dog sled. On December 14, 1912 Ninnis fell into a crevasse, and with him six dogs and most of the meals. Mawson wrote about this moment in his expedition report:

Mawson and Mertz then broke from exploring and trying to return to the base camp about 500 kilometers distant. The first glacier, which they crossed on the return trip, they called Ninnis Glacier. Mertz did not survive the return journey. Mawson reached the base camp on February 8, 1912.

Glaciology

Glaciers are huge masses of ice that are located on land or snow and move independently due to the slope, the structure of the ice, the temperature and the resulting from the mass of ice shear stress.

During the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of the glacier in 1912 was measured. According to a study from 1996, it was assumed that the size of the glacier had decreased by two-thirds of its year of survey until 1993. However, a recent study of 1998 drew the accuracy of that measurement techniques in doubt. According to this study, there were at the beginning of the 1950s, big crashes at the glacier tongue. The greatest loss of the mass of the glaciers were, however, after 1980. By shearing forces a split in the glacier tongue, which comprises some 60 percent of the projects into the ocean part to 1993, was born. In January 2000, a 900 square kilometer large part of the glacier tongue broke off. This broken part broke shortly after turn two, so that two giant icebergs each originated from the area of ​​Berlin.