The
Ferrar Glacier is an
Antarctic glacierA glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
about 56 kilometres (34.8 mi) long, flowing from the plateau of
Victoria LandVictoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
west of the
Royal Society RangeThe Royal Society Range is a majestic mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. With its summit at , the massive Mount Lister forms the highest point in this range. Mount Lister is located along the western shore of McMurdo Sound between the Koettlitz, Skelton and Ferrar glaciers...
to New Harbour in
McMurdo SoundThe ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound extend about 55 km long and wide. The sound opens into the Ross Sea to the north. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to 13,205 feet on the western shoreline. The nearby McMurdo Ice Shelf scribes McMurdo Sound's southern boundary...
. The glacier makes a right (east) turn northeast of Knobhead, where it is apposed, i.e., joined in Siamese-twin fashion, to
Taylor GlacierThe Taylor Glacier is an Antarctic glacier about long, flowing from the plateau of Victoria Land into the western end of Taylor Valley, north of the Kukri Hills, south of the Asgard Range...
. From there, it continues east along the south side of
Kukri HillsKukri Hills is a prominent east-west trending range, about long and over high, forming the divide between Ferrar Glacier on the south and Taylor Glacier and Taylor Valley on the north, in Victoria Land, Antarctica....
to New Harbor.
Discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–04) under Captain
Robert Falcon ScottCaptain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
, who named this feature for
Hartley T. FerrarHartley Travers Ferrar was a geologist who accompanied Captain Scott's first Antarctic expedition.-Biography:Ferrar born in Dalkey, near Dublin in 1879, and moved to Durban, South Africa at an early age with his parents...
, geologist of the expedition. The name Ferrar Glacier was originally applied both to the part of this glacier below its right turn and to the present Taylor Glacier.
Griffith TaylorThomas Griffith "Grif" Taylor was a British / Australian geographer, anthropologist and world explorer. He was a survivor of Captain Robert Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica .-Early life:...
, geologist of the
British Antarctic ExpeditionThe Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
(1910–14) under Scott, found evidence that these are not two parts of a single glacier but are two glaciers apposed. With this discovery Scott gave the names Ferrar Glacier and Taylor Glacier essentially as now applied; the Taylor Glacier (q.v.) makes a left turn at Cavendish Rocks and drains east along the north side of Kukri Hills.