Ross Ice Shelf | |
|---|---|
 Crevasse, Ross Ice Shelf in 2001 | |
 | |
| Coordinates: 81°30′S 175°00′W / 81.500°S 175.000°W | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Offshore water bodies | Ross Sea |
| Etymology | Sir James Clark Ross, who discovered it on 28 January 1841 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 500,809 square kilometres (193,363 sq mi) |
| Dimensions | |
| • Width | 800 kilometres (500 mi) |
| Elevation | 15 and 50 metres (50 and 160 ft) |
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (as of 2013[update], an area of roughly 500,809 square kilometres (193,363 sq mi)[1] and about 800 kilometres (500 mi) across: about the size of France).[2] It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 kilometres (370 mi) long, and between 15 and 50 metres (50 and 160 ft) high above the water surface.[3] Ninety percent of the floating ice, however, is below the water surface.
Most of the Ross Ice Shelf is in the Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand. It floats in, and covers, a large southern portion of the Ross Sea and the entire Roosevelt Island located in the east of the Ross Sea.
The ice shelf is named after Sir James Clark Ross, who discovered it on 28 January 1841. It was originally called "The Barrier", with various adjectives including "Great Ice Barrier", as it prevented sailing further south. Ross mapped the ice front eastward to 160° W. In 1947, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names applied the name "Ross Shelf Ice" to this feature and published it in the original U.S. Antarctic Gazetteer. In January 1953, the name was changed to "Ross Ice Shelf"; that name was published in 1956.[4][5]
- ^ Rignot, E.; Jacobs, S.; Mouginot, J.; Scheuchl, B. (19 July 2013). "Ice-Shelf Melting Around Antarctica". Science. 341 (6143): 266–270. Bibcode:2013Sci...341..266R. doi:10.1126/science.1235798. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 23765278. S2CID 206548095.
- ^ "Antarctic Hazards". British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-89577-087-5.
- ^ 1) [Bertrand, Kenneth John, et al, ed.] The Geographical Names of Antarctica. Special Publication No. 86. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Board on Geographical Names, May 1947. 2) [Bertrand, Kenneth J. and Fred G. Alberts]. Gazetteer No. 14. Geographic Names of Antarctica. Washington: US Government Printing Office, January 1956.
- ^ "Ross Ice Shelf Case Brief". US Board on Geographic Names. Retrieved 1 May 2016.