Sea
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean on the coast of Antarctica. It is one of the least touched seas on Earth and is home to huge numbers of penguins.
Picture credit: Brocken Inaglory (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Francisco Ardini/PNRA (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Ross Sea?
Part of: Southern Ocean.
Continents on its shores: Antarctica.
The story behind it
The Ross Sea is named after the British explorer James Clark Ross, who sailed here in 1841. Its southern part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf, a gigantic floating sheet of ice about the size of France. Where the ice meets the open sea, it forms a wall more than 600 km long and 15 to 50 m high. On Ross Island rises Mount Erebus, an active volcano in the middle of the ice. In the cold water, swarms of tiny krill feed fish, seals, whales and birds. About a third of all Adélie penguins and a quarter of all emperor penguins live in the Ross Sea region. Weddell seals, orcas and minke whales hunt here too. Because people have changed it so little, the Ross Sea is called “the Last Ocean”. Since 2017 a huge marine protected area has kept much of it safe.
Find it on the globe
Ross Sea is there as a name written across its water — tap the water and its card opens. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
Questions children ask
How big is the Ross Sea?
Most sources say the Ross Sea covers about 960 000 km², but some give a smaller size. More than half of it is covered by the thick Ross Ice Shelf.
Which penguins live at the Ross Sea?
Adélie penguins and emperor penguins both live here. About a third of all Adélie penguins in the world live in the Ross Sea region.
Who discovered the Ross Sea?
The British explorer James Clark Ross reached it in 1841, and the sea is named after him. On 28 January 1841 he also discovered the great ice shelf, which carries his name too.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: