Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is one of many such shelves. It reaches into Antarctica from the north, and covers an area of about , nearly the size of France. The ice mass is about wide and long. In some places, namely its southern areas, the ice shelf can be almost 750 m (2,450 ft) thick. The Ross Ice Shelf pushes out into the sea at between a day. Other glaciers gradually add bulk to it. At the same time, the freezing of seawater below the ice mass increases the thickness of the ice from . Sometimes, fissures and cracks may cause part of the shelf to break off; the largest known is about , that is, slightly larger than Belgium. Iceberg B-15, the world's largest recorded iceberg, was calved from the Ross Ice Shelf during March 2000.