Pearse Valley Explained

Wright Valley
Map:Antarctica
Map Size:180
Location:Antarctica
Coordinates:-77.7167°N 193°W
Watercourses:[| footnotes = ]

Pearse Valley (-77.7167°N 193°W) is an ice-free valley long, lying immediately west of Catspaw Glacier, at the south side of the Asgard Range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for John S. Pearse, biologist at McMurdo Station, 1961, and the season 1961–62.

Location

Pearse Valley is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys.It is in the south of the Asgard Range, opening onto Lake Joyce on the north side of the Taylor Glacier.The Friis Hills are to the south.Round Mountain is to the northwest.

Features

Features in or around the valley include the Schlatter Glacier, Lake House, Lake Joyce and Catspaw Glacier.

Schlatter Glacier

-77.6833°N 188°W. Glacier descending from the Asgard Range toward Lake House in Pearse Valley. Named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Roberto P. Schlatter, Chilean biologist who worked in the United States ArmyRP birdbanding program relative to the Adelie penguin and the south polar skua, at Cape Crazier in the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons.

Nylen Glacier

-77.688°N 161.4968°W.A narrow glacier between Schlatter Glacier and Fountain Glacier.It flows south into Pearse Valley. Named by the US-ACAN (2004) after Thomas H. Nylen, United States Antarctic Project (USAP) geologist from the Department of Geology at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon who studied glaciers in the Taylor Valley area, 1999-2003.

Fountain Glacier

-77.6909°N 161.64°W.A glacier between Nylen Glacier and Catspaw Glacier.It flows south into Pearse Valley. Named by US-ACAN (2004) after Andrew G. Fountain, Department of Geology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon; USAP investigator in glacier mass balance studies of McMurdo Dry Valleys, 1993-2003.

Lake House

-77.7°N 185°W. A lake in the extreme west end of Pearse Valley, north of Friis Hills in Victoria Land. Named by the eighth Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE), 1963-64, for D.A. House, chemist and member of the VUWAE party that explored lakes in the Taylor, Wright, and Victoria Valleys.

Lake Joyce

See main article: Lake Joyce. -77.7167°N 198°W. A lake which lies along the northern side of Taylor Glacier in Pearse Valley. It is long, deep and is covered by of very clear ice. The lake was studied by the New Zealand VUWAE (1963-64) which named it after Ernest Joyce, a member of earlier British expeditions to the area led by Scott (1901-04) and Shackleton (1907-09).

Sources