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

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Ross Sea

[′rȯs ′sē]

(geography)

Arm of the South Pacific Ocean off Antarctica.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

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.

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References in periodicals archive

Mr Pugh is calling on the countries in CCAMLR, which is currently chaired by Russia, to save the Ross Sea in the same way they came together to protect the land area of Antarctica at the height of the Cold War.

'I've never felt pain like that before' So, Lewis, exactly how did it feel to go swimming in the Antarctic?

When Smith and his colleagues fed these global projections into a high-resolution computer model of air-sea-ice dynamics in the Ross Sea, they saw a drastic reduction in the extent and duration of summer sea ice.

Projected big thaw of Antarctica's sea ice may harm area's unspoiled marine ecosystems

Decline of the Antarctic Toothfish and its predators in McMurdo sound and the southern Ross Sea, and recommendations for restoration.

The most remote fishery on earth: over-fishing worldwide has driven fishers to the unique Ross Sea in Antarctica in pursuit of toothfish, a fish previously only deemed worthy by a handful of polar scientists, writes marine scientist Cassandra Brooks. Should we be fishing in Antarctica which is designated a place of peace, to be protected from exploitation?

In the Ross Sea, spectacular spring blooms of marine algae called Phaeocystis antarctica dissipate by summer and are followed by blooms of diatoms.

Even in the oceans, living things need their vitamins

At a penguin rookery on Cape Hickey, a site near the present-day edge of the Ross ice shelf, the scientists found samples dating back 27,000 to 43,000 years, a hint that during that period, as today, the Ross Sea was open water during the penguin-breeding season, says Emslie.

Of penguins' range and climate change

From the shores of the Weddell Sea, Shackleton and a small party would attempt a transcontinental sled journey (man-hauling) across the South Pole to the Ross Sea. Concerned that not enough provisions could be transported that far, Shackleton had decided to send a second ship, the Aurora, with a shore party, to McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea.

THE ROSS SEA SHORE PARTY 1914-17

The state of pteropod populations is almost certainly indicative of overall ecosystem "health" in McMurdo Sound, and perhaps throughout the Ross Sea.

Cascading trophic impacts of reduced biomass in the Ross Sea, Antarctica: just the tip of the iceberg?

He will have more than just cold to worry about during the final two swims - at the Bay of Whales in the Ross Sea and Peter I Island in the Amundsen Sea.

If the cold doesn't get me, killer whales & leopard seals may well do; ACTIVIST BRACED FOR 5KM ICE SEA SWIM EXCLUSIVE

The smallest coin, showing Britannia, is 8mm wide and cost PS50; the largest, the Kilo Coin to mark the centenary of World War I, is 100mm wide, contains a kilo of gold and sells for PS45,000 | A Hindu devotee with milk pots hooked on his back before a |procession during the Thaipusam festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in | British endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh taking to the waters of Antarctica's Southern Ocean, brav-|ing freezing temperatures, leopard seals and killer whales in nothing more than his Speedo swimwear to raise awareness of the need to protect the region's pristine Ross Sea Celebrities toss lucky |beans and confectionery over people during "Mame-maki," a bean throwing ceremony, at Zojyoji Buddhist temple in Tokyo yesterday.

SNAPSHOT