From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Midnight Plateau

Plateau in Antarctica

Field	Value
country_type	Continent
country	Antarctica
parent	Darwin Mountains
length_km		length_orientation=
width_km		width_orientation=
range_coordinates
map	Antarctica

Midnight Plateau () is a prominent ice-covered plateau, over 2,200 m high, forming the central feature of the Darwin Mountains in Antarctica. It is the only area of snow accumulation in the Darwin Mountains.

Exploration and naming

The plateau was discovered by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) of 1962–63 and so named because the feature was visited by expedition members at midnight on December 27, 1962.

Location

Eastern Darwin Mountains in southwest of map

Midnight Plateau is in the center of the Darwin Mountains. Mount Ellis rises over the north of the plateau. Haskell Ridge and Colosseum Ridge runs north from the plateau to the Darwin Glacier. The plateau rises above the Hatherton Glacier to the south.

Northern features

Mount Ellis

Exodus Valley

Exodus Glacier

Kennett Ridge

Friedmann Peak

Eastern features

Hale Valley

The north-most of three largely ice-free valleys that trend east from midnight Plateau in the Darwin Mountains. This valley is immediately south of Kennett Ridge. Named after Mason E. Hale (d.), lichenologist, National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian), Washington, DC, who worked about six austral summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys beginning c.1980.

McKay Valley

The central valley of three largely ice-free valleys that trend east from Midnight Plateau in the Darwin Mountains. Named after Christopher P. McKay, physicist, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, who carried out investigations in McMurdo Dry Valleys (micrometeorology, thickness of ice in frozen lakes, stability of ground ice) in 15 austral summers beginning c.1980.

Wellman Valley

Southern features

Prebble Icefalls

Polarmail Ledge

A relatively flat wedge-shaped platform that rises above Communication Heights in the south part of Midnight Plateau. At 2000 m high, the feature is similar in elevation and aspect to Skilton Ledge, 1 nmi to the east. Named in association with Richard Chapman Johnson of Nazareth, PA, radio operator involved for 16 years (1985-2001) in coordinating MARSgrams and Polarmail which have enabled personnel in Antarctica to communicate with home.

Communication Heights

A group of highly eroded ice-free elevations to the south of Midnight Plateau. The feature rises to about 1800 m high between Conant Valley and Grant Valley. So named because features in the area are named for communication workers.

Skilton Ledge

A relatively flat rectangular rock platform at the southeast margin of Midnight Plateau, Darwin Mountains. The upper surface 2070 m high is ice covered but a rock cliff forms the south end. Named after Larry Skilton, Connecticut ham radio operator who made phone patches in the United States to complete radio communications from United States Antarctic Project (USAP) science stations including Palmer, McMurdo, Byrd surface station, and particularly South Pole. He worked a regular nightly schedule for 11 years (1990-2001) and arranged the completion of several thousand calls.

References

Sources

{{citation|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fedgov/70039167/report.pdf |accessdate=2023-12-03 |edition=2 |editor-last=Alberts |title=Geographic Names of the Antarctic |editor-first=Fred G.
{{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C79197s1_Ant.Map_Carlyon_Glacier.jpg |accessdate=2024-03-12
{{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=118178
{{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=18174
{{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=118175
{{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=118176
{{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=118181
{{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=118182

Info: 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.

plateaus-of-oates-land east-antarctica

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Midnight Plateau — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report