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Bay of Whales
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Bay of Whales
The Bay of Whales was a natural ice harbour, or iceport, indenting the front of the Ross Ice Shelf just north of Roosevelt Island, Antarctica, at the southernmost point of the world's ocean. While the Ross Sea stretches considerably further south – encompassing the Gould Coast, located around 320 kilometres (170 nautical miles) from the South Pole – the majority of this expanse is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf, rather than open sea.
Ernest Shackleton named the feature on January 24, 1908, during the Nimrod Expedition, because of the large number of whales seen near this location.
During his quest for the South Pole, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen established a temporary base, which he named Framheim, at the Bay of Whales. The base was used between January 1911 – February 1912, and was named after Amundsen's ship Fram.
The Bay of Whales was a logistical support base for Richard E. Byrd's first (1928–1930), second (1933–1935), and third expedition (1939–1941)
The configuration of the Bay of Whales continuously changed. A survey by the second Byrd expedition in 1934 determined that the feature lay at the junction of two separate ice systems, the movements of which are influenced by the presence of Roosevelt Island. Commander Glen Jacobsen, USN, who visited aboard the USS Atka in January 1955, found that calving of the ice shelf rendered the iceport temporarily unusable.
The Bay of Whales was entirely eliminated in 1987 when the 154-kilometre-long (83 nmi) Iceberg B-9 broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf.
The Whale Bay Furrows, a series of undersea valleys on the central Ross continental shelf, were named in association with the Bay of Whales.
Due to its location and topography, the Bay of Whales is the place where ships have been able to reach the southernmost location on the planet, where it is possible to travel to by sea. As it is an indentation on the northern face of the Ross Ice Shelf, which changes shape and geographic location as sections calve off into the abutting ocean and the extent of the shelf itself either moves north or south over time, this theoretical limit has also changed over time. As a result, the point of most southerly navigation reached has been, and continues to be, broken as changes occur and adjacent ice and other conditions allow.
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Bay of Whales
The Bay of Whales was a natural ice harbour, or iceport, indenting the front of the Ross Ice Shelf just north of Roosevelt Island, Antarctica, at the southernmost point of the world's ocean. While the Ross Sea stretches considerably further south – encompassing the Gould Coast, located around 320 kilometres (170 nautical miles) from the South Pole – the majority of this expanse is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf, rather than open sea.
Ernest Shackleton named the feature on January 24, 1908, during the Nimrod Expedition, because of the large number of whales seen near this location.
During his quest for the South Pole, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen established a temporary base, which he named Framheim, at the Bay of Whales. The base was used between January 1911 – February 1912, and was named after Amundsen's ship Fram.
The Bay of Whales was a logistical support base for Richard E. Byrd's first (1928–1930), second (1933–1935), and third expedition (1939–1941)
The configuration of the Bay of Whales continuously changed. A survey by the second Byrd expedition in 1934 determined that the feature lay at the junction of two separate ice systems, the movements of which are influenced by the presence of Roosevelt Island. Commander Glen Jacobsen, USN, who visited aboard the USS Atka in January 1955, found that calving of the ice shelf rendered the iceport temporarily unusable.
The Bay of Whales was entirely eliminated in 1987 when the 154-kilometre-long (83 nmi) Iceberg B-9 broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf.
The Whale Bay Furrows, a series of undersea valleys on the central Ross continental shelf, were named in association with the Bay of Whales.
Due to its location and topography, the Bay of Whales is the place where ships have been able to reach the southernmost location on the planet, where it is possible to travel to by sea. As it is an indentation on the northern face of the Ross Ice Shelf, which changes shape and geographic location as sections calve off into the abutting ocean and the extent of the shelf itself either moves north or south over time, this theoretical limit has also changed over time. As a result, the point of most southerly navigation reached has been, and continues to be, broken as changes occur and adjacent ice and other conditions allow.
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