ABSTRACT
Around the margin of the Antarctic Continent lies the fast-
ice region. This is sea ice that either breaks out very late in
the season or remains for two or more years, forming
multiyear ice that may reach a thickness of several metres.
It lies within the coastal area of the permanent pack ice
zone as defined in Chapter 15. In addition there are the
floating ice shelves formed by glacial ice outflowing from
the ice-covered Antarctic Continent. Although such ice
shelves extend to varying degrees at locations around the
continent, the most extensive are the Ross Ice Shelf in
the Ross Sea and the Filchner and Ronne Ice Shelves in
the Weddell Sea.
