Where in Antarctica ?

McMurdo Sound (longitude 165º00´E; latitude 77º30´S) is a bay about 35 miles (56 kilometers) long and wide, lying at the junction of the Ross Sea and Ross Ice Shelf between Ross Island and Victoria Land on the Antarctic mainland. McMurdo Sound is located about 2,415 miles (3,864 kilometers) south of Christchurch, New Zealand and 850 miles (1,360 kilometers) north of the south pole.

McMurdo Sound was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in February 1841 and named for Lt. Archibald McMurdo of the Terror. McMurdo Sound and Ross Island were the entry way for the early Antarctic explorations of Scott and Shackleton. McMurdo Station is located at the south end of Ross Island and is the principal US research station in Antarctica.

Ross Island lies on the east side of McMurdo Sound and extends 43 miles (69 kilometers) from Cape Bird (north) to Cape Armitage (south) and a similar distance from Cape Royds (west) to Cape Crozier (east). Ross Island is entirely volcanic with Mount Erebus at 3,795 meters (12,450 feet) near its center. Mount Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica and the southernmost active volcano on earth, emitting steam from a lava lake in its crater. North from Mt. Erebus along a fracture zone lies the smaller and extinct Mt Bird at 1,765 meters (5,790 feet), and along an eastern fracture zone lies Mount Terror at 3,230 meters (10,597 feet) and Cape Crozier with a chain of parasitic cones between them. Along the southwest rift zone of Ross Island are a chain of small basalt cones terminating at the trachyte dome of Observation Hill next to McMurdo Station and Scott Base. Captain James Clark Ross thought that Ross Island formed part of the mainland of Victoria Land. Scott's British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-4) determined that Ross Island was an island and named it for its discoverer.


The yellow dots mark locations where Norbert's team conducted dive operations in the vicinity of McMurdo Station (green dot).

Dive sites were located along the Ross Island coastline, two islands offshore Ross Island (Little Razorback, Turtle Rock), at the sea ice edge of McMurdo Sound, and on the Antarctic mainland (Victoria Land) at Granite Harbor (Couloir Cliffs, Discovery Bluff, Kar Plateau) and New Harbor (Explorer's Cove).



Here's another look at McMurdo Sound from a NASA Galileo satellite picture (taken Dec 8, 1990).

You can see McMurdo Sound just above the middle of this picture, with the Ross Ice Shelf to the right.

Click here to see McMurdo Sound in closer detail from the satellite picture.

Text ©Peter Brueggeman.