Where Is the Ross Ice Shelf?

The Ross Ice Shelf is a floating platform of glacial ice covering approximately 487,000 square kilometres — about the size of Spain or France. It stretches from the Transantarctic Mountains to the coast, with ice cliffs rising 15-50 metres above the waterline and extending 300 metres below. First explored by Sir James Clark Ross in 1841 (who named it the "Great Ice Barrier"), it was later the staging ground for the heroic-age Antarctic expeditions of Scott and Shackleton. The ice shelf is fed by glaciers flowing from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and East Antarctic Ice Sheet. It moves seaward at about 800 metres per year, periodically calving enormous icebergs — iceberg B-15, which broke off in 2000, was 295 km long, the largest ever recorded. Climate scientists monitor the Ross Ice Shelf closely because its collapse could accelerate glacier flow and contribute significantly to sea-level rise.