User Contributed Dictionary

English

Etymology

From Greenlandic nunataq.

Pronunciation

/ˈnʌnətæk/, /ˈnuːnətæk/

Noun

A mountain top that is surrounded by glacial ice but is not covered by ice; a peak protruding from the surface ice sheet.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 155:
  
  The peak in whose lee you have chosen to set up your command post is far too regular in shape to be the nunatak you imagine it.

Translations

mountaintop surrounded by glacial ice

Russian: нунатак (nunaták)

Extensive Definition

A nunatak (from Inuit nunataq) is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within (or at the edge of} an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present. Nunataks present readily identifiable landmark reference points in glaciers or ice caps and are often named.

Lifeforms on nunataks are frequently isolated by the surrounding ice or glacier creating unique habitats. Nunataks are generally angular and jagged because of freeze-thaw weathering, and can be seen to contrast strongly with the softer contours of the glacially eroded land below if the glacier retreats.

The word is of Greenlandic origin (quote: Nunataq — a hill or mountain completely surrounded by glacial ice ) and has been used in western European languages since the 1870s.

A band composed of research scientists that played in Antarctica during 2007's Live Earth event called itself "Nunatak".

Nunatak is also a brand of cold weather down jackets and sleeping bags made in Twisp Washington, USA. see http://www.nunatakusa.com

References in literature

South: The Endurance Expedition. Sir Ernest Shackleton Penguin, London, 2002, (First edition, William Heinimann, 1909).
The Worst Journey in the World. Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Pimlico, London, 2003.
The South Pole. Roald Amundsen. John Murray, London, 1929 (mentioned on page 247, volume 2: Chapter XV: The Eastern Sledge Journey, by Lt. Kristian Prestrud)

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