Williams Ice Stream is an ice stream

Ice stream

An ice stream is a region of an ice sheet that moves significantly faster than the surrounding ice. Ice streams are a type of glacier. They are significant features of the Antarctic where they account for 10% of the volume of the ice...

 about fifteen miles (24 km) long flowing into Venable Ice Shelf

Venable Ice Shelf

Venable Ice Shelf is an ice shelf, 40 miles long and 15 miles wide, between Fletcher and Allison Peninsulas, Ellsworth Land. Mapped by United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1961-66. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Cdm. J.D. Venable, U.S....

 just east of Fletcher Peninsula

Fletcher Peninsula

Fletcher Peninsula is a broad ice-covered cove which extends into the Bellingshausen Sea between the Abbot and the Venable Ice Shelf. Mapped by United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1961-66. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Fred C...

. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica...

 (US-ACAN) after Richard S. Williams, Jr., senior research geologist, United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

 (USGS), Woods Hole, Massachusetts, authority in aerial and satellite investigations of geomorphic processes and the fluctuations of glaciers on a global basis, particularly in Iceland and Antarctica; project leader of the team that is compiling 25 Glaciological and Coastal-Change Maps of Antarctica, and that compiled the 1:5,000,000-scale Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer is a space-borne sensor embarked on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration family of polar orbiting platforms . AVHRR instruments measure the reflectance of the Earth in 5 relatively wide spectral bands...

maps of Antarctica.