A Copy of the Tracing of the Icy Barrier Attached to the Antarctic Continent Discovered by the United States Exploring Expedition, 1840

unknown maker, A Copy of the Tracing of the Icy Barrier Attached to the Antarctic Continent Discovered by the United States Exploring Expedition, 1840

A Copy of the Tracing of the Icy Barrier Attached to the Antarctic Continent Discovered by the United States Exploring Expedition, 1840, 1847

Portfolio/Series title: A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, During the Years 1839-43

Material/technique: engraving

Credit line: Department of Special Collections, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Ellis Omnia C962

Accession number: EL2009.008

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"Climate Change at the Poles," Jan-2009, Kate Meyer, Jennifer Talbott, and Angela Watts
The “Icy Barrier” shown in this map would come to be known as the Ross Ice Shelf after the explorer who charted it, James Clark Ross (1800-1862). Describing the massive barrier, Ross noted the “low white line extending from its eastern extreme point as far as the eye could discern to the eastward. It presented an extraordinary appearance, gradually increasing in height, as we got nearer to it, and proving at length to be a perpendicular cliff of ice, between one hundred and fifty feet and two hundred feet above the level of the sea, perfectly flat and level at the top, and without any fissures or promontories on its even seaward face.”