Filchner Ice Shelf

Filchner Ice Shelf
/filk"neuhr, filkh"-/
an ice barrier in Antarctica, in the SE Weddell Sea, bordered on the W by Berkner Island.

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▪ geological feature, Antarctica
      large body of floating ice, lying at the head of the Weddell Sea, which is itself an indentation in the Atlantic coastline of Antarctica. It is more than 650 feet (200 m) thick and has an area of 100,400 square miles (260,000 square km). The shelf extends inland on the east side of Berkner Island for more than 250 miles (400 km) to the escarpment of the Pensacola Mountains. The name Filchner was originally applied to the whole shelf, including the larger area west of Berkner Island now called the Ronne Ice Shelf. Because of this, and the fact that the two shelves can be separated only at Berkner Island, the name Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf is frequently applied to the whole ice mass. The ice shelf, named for the German explorer Wilhelm Filchner, was claimed by the United Kingdom (1908) and by Argentina (1942). Argentina, the United Kingdom, and the United States have operated research stations along its northern edge.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Filchner Ice Shelf — Filch′ner Ice′ Shelf [[t]ˈfɪlk nər, fɪlx ˈ [/t]] n. geg an ice barrier in Antarctica, in the SE Weddell Sea …   From formal English to slang

  • Filchner Ice Shelf — geographical name area of shelf ice Antarctica in Weddell Sea …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Filchner Ice Shelf — /filk neuhr, filkh / an ice barrier in Antarctica, in the SE Weddell Sea, bordered on the W by Berkner Island …   Useful english dictionary

  • Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf — The Filchner Ronne ice shelf is in Antarctica bordering the Weddell Sea.The seaward side of the Filchner Ronne ice shelf is divided into Eastern (Filchner) and the larger Western (Ronne) sections by Berkner Island. The whole ice shelf covers some …   Wikipedia

  • Ice shelf — An ice shelf is a thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are found in Antarctica, Greenland and Canada only. The boundary between the floating ice… …   Wikipedia

  • Ronne Ice Shelf — /roh neuh/ an ice barrier in Antarctica, in SW Weddell Sea, bordered by Ellsworth Land on the NW and Berkner Island on the E. [named after Finn Ronne, 1899 1980, U.S. explorer] * * * ▪ Antarctica       large body of floating ice, lying at the… …   Universalium

  • Ice shelf — Barrière de glace Principales barrières de glace de l Antarctique      Barrière de Ross (472 960 km²) …   Wikipédia en Français

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  • Bailey Ice Stream — (coord|79|0|S|30|0|W|) is an ice stream on the northern margin of the Theron Mountains, flowing westsouthwest to the Filchner Ice Shelf. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place Names Committee (UK APC) after Jeremy Thomas Bailey (1941 65), a BAS… …   Wikipedia

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