Drygalski Ice Tongue
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[[Image:Drygalski.jpg|thumb|300px|right|'''The iceberg C-16''' collides with Drygalski ice tongue on 30 March 2006.]]
The '''Drygalski Ice Tongue''' or '''Drygalski Barrier''' or '''Drygalski Glacier Tongue''' is a [[glacier]] in [[Antarctica]], located on the [[Scott Coast]], in the northern [[McMurdo Sound]] of [[Antarctica]]'s [[Ross Dependency]], 240 kilometres (150 [[statute mile|mile]]s) north of [[Ross Island]]. The [[ice tongue]] is located at {{coor at dm|75|24|S|163|30|E|type:glacier_region:AQ}}. Drygalski Ice Tongue, being a stable feature by the standards of Antarctica's icefloes, stretches 70 kilometres out to sea from the [[David Glacier]], reaching the sea from a valley in the [[Prince Albert Mountains]] of [[Victoria Land]]. Drygalski Ice Tongue ranges from 9 to 15 miles (14 to 24 km) wide.
Captain [[Robert Falcon Scott]], leader of the [[British National Antarctic Expedition]] (BrNAE) (1901-1904), discovered Drygalski Ice Tongue in January 1902 and named it for Prof. [[Erich von Drygalski]], a contemporary [[German explorer]] then in [[Antarctica]]. Drygalski Ice Tongue became well established by the name Drygalski Ice Tongue prior to initiation of systematic application of common specific names to a glacier and its glacier tongue. Although this feature is a glacier tongue, the generic term ice tongue has been retained in the name to reduce ambiguity.
Drygalski Ice Tongue is thought to be at least 4,000 years old.
On March-April 2005, a 3,000 km² iceberg designated [[Iceberg B-15|B-15A]] collided with the ice tongue breaking off two pieces, each one with a surface of about 70 km². This iceberg is a remnant of [[Iceberg B-15]], which calved from the [[Ross Ice Shelf]] in 2000. Scientists are also concerned for several [[penguin]] colonies which have been isolated from the open sea by the two large bodies of ice.
At the end of March 2006, another iceberg coming from [[Ross Ice Shelf]], named C-16, collided with the ice tongue breaking off a large additional piece (more than 100 km²).
==See also==
*[[Erebus Ice Tongue]]
* [[List of glaciers]]
*[[McMurdo Sound]]
==External links==
* [http://earth.esa.int/ew/special_events/iceberg-b15_antartic/sp_iceberg-b15.htm Envisat: Antarctica B-15A iceberg monitoring in Ross Sea]
[[Category:Glaciers of Antarctica]]
[[Category:Landforms of the Ross Dependency]]
[[fr:Langue de glace Drygalski]]
[[it:Lingua glaciale Drygalski]]