Shackleton Glacier is a major Antarctic 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...

, over 96 km (60 mi) long and from 8 to 16 km (5 to 10 mi) wide, descending from the polar plateau from the vicinity of Roberts Massif and flowing north through the Queen Maud Mountains

Queen Maud Mountains

The Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the polar plateau in Antarctica...

 to enter the Ross Ice Shelf

Ross Ice Shelf

The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...

 between Mount Speed

Mount Speed

Mount Speed is a roughly circular, mound-shaped mountain with several low summits at the edge of Ross Ice Shelf, standing at the west side of the mouth of Shackleton Glacier. Discovered by the United States Antarctic Service , and surveyed by A.P. Crary, leader of the U.S. Ross Ice Shelf Traverse...

 and Waldron Spurs. The Roberts Massif is a remarkable snow-free massif

Massif

In geology, a massif is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole...

 exceeding 2700 metres (8,858.3 ft) and about 155 km² (59.8 sq mi) in area. It was visited by the Southern Party of New Zealand GSAE (1961–62), who named it for A.R. Roberts, leader at Scott Base for 1961-62.

The glacier was discovered by the USAS

United States Antarctic Program

United States Antarctic Program is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the continent of Antarctica. It co-ordinates research and the operational support for research in the region...

 (1939–41) and named by US-SCAN for Sir 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...

, British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Antarctic explorer.