Whales, Bay of

Whales, Bay of
Former inlet of the Ross Sea, Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica.

It was first seen by the British explorer James C. Ross in 1842. The bay was the continent's most southerly open harbour in summer and was the site of several important bases for Antarctic exploration. More than 10 mi (16 km) wide in 1911, it gradually narrowed as advancing ice sheets collided. It disappeared entirely in 1987 when an iceberg 99 mi (159 km) long broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf.

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▪ former bay, Antarctica
      former indentation in the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. First seen by the British explorer Sir James Clark Ross in 1842 and visited by a fellow countryman, Ernest Henry (later Sir Ernest) Shackleton, in 1908, the Bay of Whales served as one of the most important centres of Antarctic exploration.

      The natural bay, created by uneven advancement of the ice shelf, was the continent's most southerly open harbour in summer months and the site of several important bases, including those of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1911) and the American explorer Richard E. Byrd (Little America I, 1928; II, 1933–34; III, 1940; IV, 1947; V, 1956). More than 10 miles (16 km) wide in 1911, the bay gradually narrowed until sometime in the early 1950s the advancing sheets collided and broke off the ice shelf, nearly obliterating the Bay of Whales and carrying away part of the Little America IV station. The Bay of Whales was entirely eliminated in 1987 when an iceberg 99 miles (159 km) long broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Whales,Bay of — Whales (hwālz, wālz), Bay of An inlet of the Ross Sea in the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica. It has been used as a base for Antarctic expeditions since 1911. * * * …   Universalium

  • Whales, Bay of — geographical name inlet of Ross Sea Antarctica in Ross Ice Shelf …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • bay — bay1 /bay/, n. 1. a body of water forming an indentation of the shoreline, larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf. 2. South Atlantic States. an arm of a swamp. 3. a recess of land, partly surrounded by hills. 4. an arm of a prairie or swamp,… …   Universalium

  • Bay mud — consists of thick deposits of soft, unconsolidated silty clay, which is saturated with water; these soil layers are situated at the bottom of certain estuaries, which are normally in temperate regions that have experienced cyclical glacial cycles …   Wikipedia

  • Bay — of Bengal, Biscay (nicknamed Biscuits by sailors), Boston, Charleston, Fundy, Holland, Islands, Laig, Mission, Naples, New York, Panama, Pigs, River, San Diego, San Francisco, State, Street, Whales; The Bay Algoa Bay or Port Elizabeth Bay in… …   Eponyms, nicknames, and geographical games

  • Whales — [hwālz, wālz] Bay of inlet of the Ross Sea, near Little America …   English World dictionary

  • Bay of Fundy — The Bay of Fundy ( fr. Baie de Fundy) is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of… …   Wikipedia

  • Bay of Whales — The Bay of Whales (coord|78|30|S|164|20|W|) is an iceport indenting the front of Ross Ice Shelf just northward of Roosevelt Island. A natural ice harbor which generally forms here, it served as the base site for Roald Amundsen s successful… …   Wikipedia

  • Whales — /hwaylz, waylz/, n. Bay of, an inlet of the Ross Sea, in Antarctica: location of Little America. * * * …   Universalium

  • Whales — [[t](h)weɪlz, weɪlz[/t]] n. geg Bay of, an inlet of the Ross Sea, in Antarctica: location of Little America …   From formal English to slang

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