The Ross Ice Shelf (81º30´S 175º00´W) is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (an area of half a million square kilometres, and about 800 km across: about the size of France). Most of it is located within the Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand. Ice shelves are permanent floating ice sheets that are attached to the land and are constantly fed by glaciers. The ice shelf was named after Captain James Clark Ross who discovered it on January 28, 1841. Ross mapped the ice front eastward to 160ºW.
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