[1] This glacier was first mapped by Lauge Koch in 1917 during Knud Rasmussen's 1916-1918 Second Thule Expedition to north Greenland and was named after Danish botanist Carl Hansen Ostenfeld (1873–1931), author of Flora of Greenland and its origin.

[2] The C. H. Ostenfeld Glacier originates in the Greenland Ice Cap.

It is roughly southeast–northwest oriented and has its terminus at the head of Victoria Fjord.

The glacier's last stretch is a floating tongue within the fjord.

The Brikkerne Glacier joins from the right near the head of the fjord.