Axel Heiberg Glacier

Aerial view of the Axel Heiberg Glacier in 1956-57

The Axel Heiberg Glacier is a valley glacier, 48 km (30 mi) long, descending from the high-elevations of the Antarctic Plateau into the Ross Ice Shelf (nearly at sea level) between the Herbert Range and Mount Don Pedro Christophersen in the Queen Maud Mountains.

This huge glacier was discovered in November 1911 by the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, and named by him for Axel Heiberg, a Norwegian businessman and patron of science, who contributed to numerous Norwegian polar expeditions. Amundsen used this glacier as his route up onto the polar plateau on his successful expedition to the South Pole.

See also

• List of glaciers in the Antarctic
• Beardmore Glacier

References

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Axel Heiberg Glacier