Ross Ice Shelf
 |
Ross Ice Shelf in 1997. |
The
Ross Ice Shelf () is the largest
ice shelf of
Antarctica (an area of roughly 487 000 km
2, and about 800 km across: about the size of
France). It is several hundred meters thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 meters high above the water surface. 90 percent of the floating ice, however, is below the water surface. Most of
Ross Ice Shelf is located within the
Ross Dependency claimed by
New Zealand.
Ice shelves are permanent floating
ice sheets that are attached to the land and are constantly fed by
glaciers. The ice shelf was named after Captain
James Clark Ross who discovered it on
January 28,
1841. Ross mapped the ice front eastward to 160ºW.
The Ross Ice Shelf acquired a grimmer reputation in 1912, when it became the final resting place of
Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his party.
* http://www.vims.edu/bio/microbial/NBPishelf.html - some pictures of the Ross.
