Larsen Ice Shelf

Fig. 1.7 The Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901-1904) was led by Otto Nordenskjold who set up a winter-over hut on the northern tip of Snow Hill Island close to Seymour Island where Captain C.A. Larsen had previously found interesting fossils. During October of 1902, Nordenskjdld and two companions used dog teams to travel south across the Larsen Ice Shelf to a nunatak on the King Oscar II Coast which they named Borchgrevink. When their ship attempted to pick them up at Snow Hill Island, it was crushed by the pack ice and sank. Captain Larsen and the crew escaped to Paulet Island and eventually rejoined Nordenskjdld. In the end, everyone was rescued by the Argentine navy (Adapted from Stonehouse 2002, p. 259)...

The area of Antarctica is 13.97 x 10 km making it the fifth largest of the seven continents (Stonehouse 2002). It is conventionally oriented on maps as shown in Fig. 2.1 and is subdivided into East Antarctica, West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, and certain islands that rise more than 500 m above sea level (i.e., Alexander, Bear, Berkner, Roosevelt, Ross, and Thurston). In addition, Antarctica is surrounded by the Ross, Ronne, Filchner, Riiser-Larsen, Fimbul, and Amery floating ice shelves as well as by the Larsen ice shelf located along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Except for the northernmost tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, the continent lies within the Antarctic Circle at latitudes greater than 62.5° south. 

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