Antarctic Peninsula Glacier - Earth.com Antarctic Peninsula Glacier

Many glaciers could be seen during the Operation Ice Bridge flight on Nov. 4, 2009. The low-altitude flight collected data on the Larsen Ice Shelf and numerous glaciers that exist on the Antarctic Peninsula. Credit: Jim Yungel/NASA

At the surface, it is the biggest, most prominent peninsula in Antarctica as it extends 1,300 km. Also from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet which covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands. Therefore these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level. They are joined together by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, lies only about 1,000 km (620 miles) away across the Drake Passage.

News coming your way
The biggest news about our planet delivered to you each day