The area of ice shelves in Antarctica

Abstract

In Polar Record, Vol 11, No 75,1963, p 735, I. A. Suyetova made calculations of the area of Antarctica and of its major ice shelves based on published and unpublished material available up to 1961. Suyetova's estimate of the area of the ice shelves, excluding attached islands and ice rises, is 1–38 × 10⁶ km². In a study of the drainage systems of Antarctica (Giovinetto, 1963) the area of the ice shelves as defined above is estimated at (1·63 ± 0·30) × 10⁶ km². The latter estimate is based, except for the region of the Filchner Ice Shelf, on the more recent chart of Antarctica compiled by the American Geographical Society (1962; 1:3000000). The difference between the estimates of total ice shelf area cannot be explained entirely by the margin of error; there are some differences between the areas estimated for particular ice shelves which are significant: