Ross Sea

Ross Sea, arm of the Pacific Ocean, Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross, a British explorer. Ross Island with Mt. Erebus, an active volcano, is in the western part of the sea; Roosevelt Island is in the east. The Ross Sea's southern extension is the Ross Ice Shelf, a great frozen area whose 400-mi (644-km) seaward side is the source of huge icebergs. The

Bay of Whales, the ice shelf's best known inlet, lasted for c.50 years and was the site of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's base for his trek to the South Pole in 1911; Little America, a U.S. base, was located nearby.

McMurdo Sound, on the western side of Ross Sea, is usually free of pack ice in late summer; it has been the most important staging point for exploration and scientific investigation.

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Ross Sea

a large arm of the S Pacific in Antarctica, incorporating the Ross Ice Shelf and lying between Victoria Land and the Edward VII Peninsula

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Ross Sea [′rȯs ′sē]

(geography)

Arm of the South Pacific Ocean off Antarctica.

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Ross Sea 

a southern extension of the Pacific Ocean off Antarctica, between Cape Adare (71 ° 17’S lat., 170° 18’ E long.) and Cape Colbeck (77°07’ S lat., 158° 15’ W long.). Area, 435,000 sq km; if the extensive waters under the Ross Ice Shelf are included, approximately 960,000 sq km. Depths range to 700 m. The coastline is hilly and extremely irregular. The sea is covered for most of the year by drifting ice, which thins out only late in the summer. There are many icebergs. The average temperature of the water during the course of the year is below - 1°C; in the summer the temperature sometimes reaches 2°C. Salinity is 33.75–34.4 parts per thousand. Currents are clockwise. Tides are semidiurnal, with variations in sea level up to 1 m. Marine life includes the Ross seal, Weddell seal, crab-eater seal, and whale. The sea was discovered by J. C. Ross in 1841. In 1956, the main base of the U. S. antarctic expedition, McMurdo, was set up on Ross Peninsula; in 1957, New Zealand’s Scott Base was also set up there, and the Hallett science station, operated jointly by the U. S. and New Zealand, was set up on Cape Hallett.