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West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica is one of the two major regions of Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
, lying on the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 side of the Transantarctic Mountains
Transantarctic Mountains

The three largest mountain ranges on the Antarctic continent are the Transantarctic Mountains, the West Antarctica Ranges, and the East Antarctica Ranges....
 and comprising Marie Byrd Land
Marie Byrd Land

Marie Byrd Land is the portion of Antarctica lying east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean, extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast....
, Ellsworth Land
Ellsworth Land

Ellsworth Land is that portion of the Antarctica continent bounded on the west by Marie Byrd Land, on the north by Bellingshausen Sea, on the northeast by the base of Antarctic Peninsula, and on the east by the western margin of Ronne Ice Shelf....
, and the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula

The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....
. All of West Antarctica lies within the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the Eastern Hemisphere....
. It is separated from the main land mass of the continent by the Ross Sea
Ross Sea

The Ross Sea is a deep Headlands and bays of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It was discovered by James Clark Ross in 1841....
 and Weddell Sea
Weddell Sea

The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula....
, and resembles a giant peninsula
Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
 that stretches roughly from the South Pole
South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's rotation intersects the surface....
 towards the southern tip of South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
.

The name has existed for more than 90 years (Balch, 1902; Nordenskiöld
Otto Nordenskiöld

File:Otto Nordenskj?ld.jpgDr Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskj?ld was a Sweden geologist, geographer, and polar explorer.Nordenskj?ld was born in Hesselby in Sm?land in eastern Sweden, in a Finland Swedish family that included his maternal uncle Adolf Erik Nordenski?ld, a noted polar explorer....
, 1905), but its greatest use followed the International Geophysical Year
International Geophysical Year

The International Geophysical Year or IGY was an international scientific effort that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958.The IGY encompassed eleven Earth sciences: Auroral light and airglow, cosmic rays, Earth's magnetic field, gravity, ionosphere, longitude and latitude determinations , meteorology, oceanography, seismolo...
 (1957-58) and explorations disclosing that the Transantarctic Mountains provide a useful regional separation of West Antarctica and East Antarctica
East Antarctica

East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, is one of the two major regions of the Antarctica continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains and comprising Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac Robertson Land, Wilkes Land and Victoria Land....
.






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West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica is one of the two major regions of Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
, lying on the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 side of the Transantarctic Mountains
Transantarctic Mountains

The three largest mountain ranges on the Antarctic continent are the Transantarctic Mountains, the West Antarctica Ranges, and the East Antarctica Ranges....
 and comprising Marie Byrd Land
Marie Byrd Land

Marie Byrd Land is the portion of Antarctica lying east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean, extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast....
, Ellsworth Land
Ellsworth Land

Ellsworth Land is that portion of the Antarctica continent bounded on the west by Marie Byrd Land, on the north by Bellingshausen Sea, on the northeast by the base of Antarctic Peninsula, and on the east by the western margin of Ronne Ice Shelf....
, and the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula

The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....
. All of West Antarctica lies within the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the Eastern Hemisphere....
. It is separated from the main land mass of the continent by the Ross Sea
Ross Sea

The Ross Sea is a deep Headlands and bays of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It was discovered by James Clark Ross in 1841....
 and Weddell Sea
Weddell Sea

The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula....
, and resembles a giant peninsula
Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
 that stretches roughly from the South Pole
South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's rotation intersects the surface....
 towards the southern tip of South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
.

The name has existed for more than 90 years (Balch, 1902; Nordenskiöld
Otto Nordenskiöld

File:Otto Nordenskj?ld.jpgDr Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskj?ld was a Sweden geologist, geographer, and polar explorer.Nordenskj?ld was born in Hesselby in Sm?land in eastern Sweden, in a Finland Swedish family that included his maternal uncle Adolf Erik Nordenski?ld, a noted polar explorer....
, 1905), but its greatest use followed the International Geophysical Year
International Geophysical Year

The International Geophysical Year or IGY was an international scientific effort that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958.The IGY encompassed eleven Earth sciences: Auroral light and airglow, cosmic rays, Earth's magnetic field, gravity, ionosphere, longitude and latitude determinations , meteorology, oceanography, seismolo...
 (1957-58) and explorations disclosing that the Transantarctic Mountains provide a useful regional separation of West Antarctica and East Antarctica
East Antarctica

East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, is one of the two major regions of the Antarctica continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains and comprising Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac Robertson Land, Wilkes Land and Victoria Land....
. The name was approved by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names
Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica....
 (US-ACAN) in 1962.

West Antarctica is mostly covered by a massive ice sheet referred to as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
West Antarctic Ice Sheet

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is the segment of the Antarctic ice sheet that covers West Antarctica, the portion of Antarctica west of the Transantarctic Mountains....
 (WAIS). This ice sheet
Ice sheet

An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 square kilometer . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada and North America, the Wisconsin glaciation ice sheet covered n...
 has shown signs of increasing mass loss and has been referred to as the 'Awakened Giant'.

The parts of West Antarctica not covered with ice (mostly Antarctic Peninsula) constitute a tundra
Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is an biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tund?r, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra....
-type biodiversity
Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems....
 region known as Marielandia (after the Marie Byrd Land).