Abbot Ice Shelf

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Ice features.jpg

The Abbot Ice Shelf is an ice-shelf 250 mi (400 km) long and 40 mi (60 km) wide, bordering the Eights Coast of Westarctica from Cape Waite to Pfrogner Point in Antarctica.

Thurston Island lies along the northern edge of the western half of this ice shelf; other sizable islands (Sherman, Carpenter Island, Dustin, Johnson Island, McNamara, Farwell and Dendtler) lie partly or wholly within this shelf.

Discovery

The ice shelf was first sighted by members of U.S. Antarctic Service (USAS) in flights from the USS Bear, in February 1940, and its western portion was delineated from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47. The full extent of the ice shelf was mapped by U.S. Geographic Service from U.S. Navy air photos taken in 1966.

Name

Named by US-ACAN for Rear Admiral James Lloyd Abbot, Jr., Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, February 1967 to June 1969.

DC-8 shadow against crevasses on Abbott Ice Shelf