Adams Glacier is a small glacier

Glacier

A 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...

 immediately south of Miers Glacier

Miers Glacier

Miers Glacier is a small glacier north of Terminus Mountain in Victoria Land, occupying the upper portion of Miers Valley. Mapped and named by the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-13....

 in Victoria Land

Victoria Land

Victoria 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...

. The heads of Adams and Miers glaciers, both located in the Miers Valley

Miers Valley

Miers Valley is a valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys located just south of Marshall Valley and west of Koettlitz Glacier, on the coast of Victoria Land. The valley is ice-free in the Austral summer except for Miers Glacier and Adams Glacier in its upper part, and Lake Miers near its center...

, are separated by a low ridge, and the east end of this ridge is almost completely surrounded by the snouts of the two glaciers, which nearly meet in the bottom of the valley

Valley

In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...

, about 1 miles (1.6 km) above Lake Miers

Lake Miers

Lake Miers is a small lake in Miers Valley, lying east of the snouts of Miers and Adams Glaciers, and filled by meltwater from these glaciers. A stream from the lake flows down the valley in the warmest weather to reach the coast of Victoria Land. Named after Miers Glacier in 1957 by the New...

, into which they drain. It was named by the New Zealand Northern Survey Party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole...

 (1956–58) after Lieutenant (later Sir) Jameson Adams

Jameson Adams

Sir Jameson Adams was an Antarctic explorer with the Nimrod Expedition, the first expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in an unsuccessful attempt to reach the South Pole. Nevertheless, he was one of the party of four who reached the Polar Plateau for the first time ever, thus showing the way to the...

, second in command of the shore party of the British Antarctic Expedition

Nimrod Expedition

The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...

 (1907–09), who was one of the men to accompany Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...

 to within 97 miles (156.1 km) of the South Pole

South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...

.