MacAyeal Ice Stream (), formerly Ice Stream E, is an

ice stream An ice stream is a region of fast-moving ice within an ice sheet. It is a type of glacier, a body of ice that moves under its own weight. They can move upwards of a year, and can be up to in width, and hundreds of kilometers in length. They ...

in Antarctica flowing west to the juncture of

Shirase Coast Shirase Coast () is the north segment of the relatively ill-defined coast along the east side of Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Sea, lying between the north end of Siple Coast (about ) and Cape Colbeck. Named by NZ-APC in 1961 after Lieutenant Nobu Shiras ...

and

Siple Coast Siple Coast () is the middle portion of the relatively ill-defined coast along the east side of the Ross Ice Shelf, between the north end of Gould Coast () and the south end of Shirase Coast (). The area was originally called Kirton Coast, but was ...

between

Bindschadler Ice Stream Bindschadler Ice Stream () is an ice stream between Siple Dome and MacAyeal Ice Stream. It is one of several major ice streams draining from Marie Byrd Land into the Ross Ice Shelf. The ice streams were investigated and mapped by U.S. Antarctic ...

and

Echelmeyer Ice Stream The Echelmeyer Ice Stream (), formerly known as Ice Stream F, is a glaciological feature of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It is an ice stream flowing west to the Shirase Coast to the north of the MacAyeal Ice Stream, and is one of several majo ...

. It is one of several major ice streams draining from

Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centur ...

into the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between h ...

. The ice streams were investigated and mapped by U.S. Antarctic Research Program personnel in a number of field seasons from 1983–84 onwards and named Ice Stream A, B, C, etc., according to their position from south to north. The name was changed from Ice Stream E by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

in 2002 to honor Douglas R. MacAyeal of the Department of Geophysical Sciences,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, a

U.S. Antarctic Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

investigator in the

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who vi ...

area including study of the Ross Ice Shelf, the

West Antarctic Ice Sheet The Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is the segment of the continental ice sheet that covers West Antarctica, the portion of Antarctica on the side of the Transantarctic Mountains that lies in the Western Hemisphere. The WAIS is classified as a ...

and the Marie Byrd Land ice streams, 1989–2002.

Shabtaie Ice Ridge Shabtaie Ice Ridge () is an ice ridge between MacAyeal Ice Stream and Bindschadler Ice Stream at the junction of Shirase Coast and Siple Coast, Marie Byrd Land. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after Sion Shabtaie, Geophysic ...

sits between the MacAyeal and Bundschadler ice streams.

References

Ice streams of Marie Byrd Land {{MarieByrdLand-geo-stub

See also

References