The Antarctic continental shelf is a submerged piece of the Antarctic continent that underlies a portion of the Southern Ocean — the ocean which surrounds Antarctica. The shelf is generally narrow and unusually deep, its edge lying at depths averaging 500 meters (the global mean is around 100 meters), with troughs extending as far as 2000 meters deep.[1] It is home to a thriving ecosystem of penguins and cold-water fish and crustaceans. This profound submersion is a result of ice sheet loading, thermal subsidence, and long-term erosion due to climatic variations over the past 34 million years.
Several countries have issued proclamations claiming ownership over parts of the shelf, including Chile (since 1947), Australia (since 1953), France, and Argentina.[2]