page_title: Erebus Ice Tongue
section_title: Ice tongue harbors
hierarchical_section_title: Erebus Ice Tongue / Ice tongue harbors
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of McMurdo Sound with Erebus Ice Tongue in the foreground and Ross Sea in the background, Antarctica. Français&#160;: Vue aérienne du détroit de Mc Murdo avec la glacier Erebus au premier plan et la mer de Ross au dernier plan, Antarctique. English: Original description: "An aerial view of the Erebus Ice Tongue in front of (left to right) Tent, Inaccessible, Big Razorback and Little Razorback islands. Cape Evans, a small rocky outcropping, can also be seen on the right. The white ice and snow surrounding the islands will thaw into open ocean water by late December. The ice edge and open water can be seen in the distance."
context_page_description: The Erebus Ice Tongue is a mountain outlet glacier and the seaward extension of Erebus Glacier from Ross Island. It projects 11 kilometres into McMurdo Sound from the Ross Island coastline near Cape Evans, Antarctica. The glacier tongue varies in thickness from 50 metres at the snout to 300 metres at the point where it is grounded on the shoreline. Explorers from Robert F. Scott's Discovery Expedition named and charted the ice tongue.
  Erebus Ice Tongue is about 10 metres high and is centred upon 77.6 degrees south latitude, 166.75 degrees east longitude. The portion of the ice tongue extending beyond the shoreline or grounding line floats upon the water.
  Ice tongues emerge when a glacier ice stream flows rapidly into the sea or a lake, usually in a protected area. For instance, Capes Evans and Royds extending from Ross Island protect the Erebus Ice Tongue from the open waters of the Ross Sea. Hut Point Peninsula to the south helps deflect icebergs propelled by prevailing southerly winds.
  The long, narrow Erebus ice stream drains from the western slope of Mount Erebus, an active volcano rising 3,794 metres in elevation.
context_section_description: The frozen sea ice of Erebus Bay surrounding the Erebus Ice Tongue typically breaks out during the summer. This exposes the ice tongue to pounding waves from McMurdo Sound.
  Moreover, such wave action also impacts the ice caves accessed along the leading edges of the ice tongue. The ice caves include inter-locked crevasses covered by snow bridges. The ice caves are a popular attraction for residents from nearby the McMurdo Station and Scott Base research stations. Visitors report observing stalactite-like icicles on the cave ceilings, as well as intricate ice crystals. Sunlight filtering through ice into the caves bathes the interiors with diffuse blue light.
  Contemporary cave explorers who squeezed through a narrow tunnel several hundred feet long to emerge into a large cavern describe their Erebus Ice Tongue experience as:
  Sitting quietly we absorb the natural beauty. Suddenly, we hear the low grinding noise of the glacier moving and the three of us instinctively look at the narrow opening. Without saying a word we realize that it wouldn’t take much for the entrance to collapse and become sealed and trap us here. One by one we slowly exit. Steve later finds a cave that will safely hold all 10 of us. With childlike enthusiasm we explore the glacial cathedral with walls of deep blue ice. Breaking off pieces of ice, 10 or 20,000 years old, we melt it in our mouths and savour the taste of pure, uncontaminated water.
  Scientists funded by a National Science Foundation grant have retrieved rare underwater views of the Erebus Ice Tongue caves by mounting cameras on Weddell seals. Images revealed rocks and dead fish frozen into the ice. Video also depicted other Weddell seals that appeared to use the underwater caves as hiding places from predators such as the orca (or killer whale) and the leopard seal.
  Weddell seals are commonly sighted by visitors to the Erebus Ice Tongue. Each year 300 to 400 Weddell seal pups are born to a colony of seals that live in adjoining Erebus Bay. The seals have been distinctively marked and re-sighted since 1969. The nearly 40-year study represents one of the longest field investigations of its type, according to a Montana State University report.
  Emperor and Adelie penguins are also found in the vicinity of the Erebus Ice Tongue. Adelie are particularly noted for their rookeries on Erebus Bay's rocky north shore at nearby Cape Royds. Penguins, like the Weddell seal, are preyed upon by orcas and leopard seals. The presence of penguins also attracts the predatory skua seabird. 
  Scarce mention of the ice tongue's surface, which is more than a mile wide, is made in popular literature. A notable exception is in Ernest Shackleton's book, South! The leader of a December 1916 search party seeking fellow explorers missing in vicinity of the ice tongue made the following report to Shackleton:
  On January 2 thick weather caused party to lay up. On 3rd, glacier was further examined, and several slopes formed by snow led to top of glacier, but crevasses between slope and the tongue prevented crossing. The party then proceeded round the Tongue to Tent Island, which was also searched, a complete tour of the island being made.
caption: The Erebus Ice Tongue is shaped by a variety of forces such as wave action during summer thaw, tides, and internal tensions.
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