West Ice Shelf
{{Distinguish|West Antarctic Ice Sheet}}
{{short description|Ice shelf in East Antarctica}}
{{Location map
| Antarctica
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| lon_deg = 85
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| lon_dir = E
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| label = West Ice Shelf
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| caption = Location in Antarctica
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File: Penguin in Antarctica jumping out of the water.jpg
The West Ice Shelf is a prominent ice shelf extending about {{convert|350|km|abbr=on}} in an east–west direction along the Leopold and Astrid Coast in East Antarctica between Barrier Bay and Posadowsky Bay, and up to 120 km northwards from the continental margin.
Discovery and naming
The ice shelf was discovered and named by the First German Antarctica Expedition, 1901–1903, under Dr Erich von Drygalski. The toponym describes the direction in which the German expedition first viewed the ice shelf. Their limited westward view became a prolonged one; on February 21, 1902, the ship became stuck in the pack ice, remaining imprisoned there until February 8, 1903.
Important Bird Area
A {{cvt|416|ha}} site {{Coord|68|36|29|S|77|53|37|E|display=title}} on sea ice near the north-western margin of the shelf has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports an emperor penguin colony. {{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/west-ice-shelf-iba-antarctica |title= West Ice Shelf|author= |date=2015 |website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 6 December 2020}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{gnis|type=antarid|16451}}
- [http://www.south-pole.com/p0000085.htm Erich von Drygalski]
{{Important Bird Areas of Antarctica}}
{{Portal bar|Birds|Geography|Earth sciences|Weather}}
Category:Important Bird Areas of Antarctica