Minna Bluff

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Peninsula in Antarctica

title: "Minna Bluff" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cliffs-of-victoria-land", "cliffs-of-the-ross-dependency", "scott-coast", "hillary-coast"] description: "Peninsula in Antarctica" topic_path: "general/cliffs-of-victoria-land" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minna_Bluff" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Peninsula in Antarctica ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

FieldValue
mapAntarctica
locationVictoria Land, Antarctica
::

| name = | photo = | photo_caption = | elevation = | elevation_ref = | prominence_m = | prominence_ref = | listing = | map = Antarctica | map_caption = | map_size = | label_position = | location = Victoria Land, Antarctica | range = | coordinates = | range_coordinates = | coordinates_ref = | type = | age = Minna Bluff () is a narrow, bold peninsula, 25 nmi long and 3 nmi wide, projecting southeast from Mount Discovery into the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. It was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-04) which named it for Minna, the wife of Sir Clements Markham, the "father" of the expedition. It culminates in a south-pointing hook feature (Minna Hook), and is the subject of research into Antarctic cryosphere history, funded by the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs.

Exploration and naming

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Mcmurdo_(cropped).jpg" caption="Mount Discovery, Black Island, and White Island; to the south Minna bluff"] ::

The bluff is mentioned repeatedly in the history of Antarctic exploration. It was first sighted in June 1902, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition, 1901–04. It was thereafter recognised as a key landmark and location for vital supply depots for southern journeys towards the South Pole. Originally identified simply as "the Bluff", it was later named by Scott after the wife of Royal Geographical Society former president Sir Clements Markham.

Every expedition that followed Scott on this route after his pioneering journey (including Ernest Shackleton in 1908, Scott himself in 1911 and Shackleton's Ross Sea party in 1914-16) used Minna Bluff to position depots and as a critical marker to guide homeward journeys. Because of the state of the ice in its immediate vicinity, the polar route was established some 20 mi to its east, depots being laid on this route within sight of the Bluff.

The researches of George Simpson, meteorologist on Scott's Terra Nova Expedition established that Minna Bluff has an effect on polar weather. The mass of the Bluff deflects eastward the southerly winds which sweep along the Ross Ice Shelf's eastern edge, and this deflection is then divided when the winds reach Ross Island some 50 mi further north. One stream sweeps into McMurdo Sound, the other goes eastward to Cape Crozier. This division of the wind direction is, among other consequences, the cause of the "windless bight" area on the southern coast of Ross Island, an exceptionally cold area of fogs and low winds, encountered on various land journeys between McMurdo Sound and Cape Crozier undertaken on Scott's two expeditions.

Location

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/C78192s1_Ant.Map_Mount_Discovery.jpg" caption="Minna Bluff in center east of map"] ::

Minna Bluff extends southeast from Mount Discovery into the Ross Ice Shelf. The Eady Ice Piedmont occupies the angle below Mount Discovery between Mason Spur and Minna Bluff. Black Island and White Island are to the north of the bluff. The bluff is the southernmost point of Victoria Land, and separates the Scott Coast to the north from the Hillary Coast of the Ross Dependency to the south.

Features

Minna Saddle

McIntosh Cliffs

Minna Hook

Eady Ice Piedmont

Moore Embayment

References

Sources

  • {{citation|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fedgov/70039167/report.pdf |accessdate=2024-01-30 |edition=2 |editor-last=Alberts |title=Geographic Names of the Antarctic |editor-first=Fred G. |publisher=United States Board on Geographic Names |year=1995}}
  • {{cite book|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/shackletonsforgo00lenn |last= Bickel|first= Lennard|title= Shackleton's Forgotten Men|publisher= Random House|location= London|year= 2000|isbn= 0-7126-6807-1}}
  • {{cite book|authorlink= Apsley Cherry-Garrard |last= Cherry-Garrard|first= Apsley|title= The Worst Journey in the World|publisher= Penguin Books|year= 1983|location= London|isbn= 0-14-009501-2}}
  • {{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=17602 |name=McIntosh Cliffs}}
  • {{citation |url=https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=113926 |accessdate=2024-02-28 |title=Minna Hook |publisher=AADC: Australian Antarctic Data Centre |ref= }}
  • {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C78192s1_Ant.Map_Mount_Discovery.jpg |accessdate=2024-02-23 |title=Mount Discovery |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
  • {{cite book|authorlink= Beau Riffenburgh |last= Riffenburgh|first= Beau|title= Nimrod|publisher= Bloomsbury Publications|location= London|year= 2004|isbn= 0-7475-7253-4}}
  • {{cite book|publisher= Yale University Press|year= 2001|location= New Haven|isbn= 0-300-09921-5 |last= Solomon|first= Susan|title= The Coldest March|url= https://archive.org/details/coldestmarchscot00solo|url-access= registration}}
  • {{cite book|authorlink= Edward Wilson (explorer) |last= Wilson|first= Edward A.|title= Diary of the Discovery Expedition|year= 1973|location= London|publisher= Blandford Press|isbn= 0-7137-0431-4}}

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

cliffs-of-victoria-landcliffs-of-the-ross-dependencyscott-coasthillary-coast