Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf

Antarctica’s Larsen Ice Shelf, viewed from NASA’s DC-8 aircraft in 2004, is one target of the 2009 Operation Ice Bridge Antarctica campaign. Credit: NASA/Jim Ross.

The Larsen Ice Shelf is a long ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Therefore from Cape Longing to Smith Peninsula. It is named for Captain Carl Anton Larsen, the master of the Norwegian whaling vessel Jason, who sailed along the ice front as far as 68°10′ South during December 1893. In finer detail, the Larsen Ice Shelf is a series of shelves that occupy (or occupied) distinct embayments along the coast. From north to south, the segments are called Larsen A (the smallest), Larsen B, and Larsen C (the largest) by researchers who work in the area. Further south, Larsen D and the much smaller Larsen E, F and G are also named.