COMPOSITE GAZETTEER OF ANTARCTICA

W extension into BAT of Riiser-Larsenisen, Dronning Maud Land. Following air and ground surveys by the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1949-52, and Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, 1956-60, the ice shelf was named in Norwegian form after Maj. Gen. Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, RNorwAF (1890-1965), Norwegian polar explorer and pioneer airman; with R. Amundsen and L. Ellsworth as seaplane pilot on flight towards the North Pole in 1925, and as chief pilot in the dirigible Norge on its trans-Arctic flight in 1926; Leader of Norwegian Antarctic expeditions, 1929-31 (in Norvegia) and 1932-33 (in Thorshavn); commanded RNorwAF in England, 1944-46 (NP map, 1962). The SW limit of the ice shelf was undefined in the original naming, but US LANDSAT imagery of February 1974 shows Lyddan Ice Rise as the natural boundary. The English form of the name applies to the small part of the feature between the ice rise and 20°00'W (APC, 1982, p.3).

An ice shelf about 250 mi long on the coast of Queen Maud Land, extending from Cape Norvegia in the north to Lyddan Island and Stancomb-Wills Glacier in the south. Parts of the ice shelf were sighted by Bruce in 1904, Shackleton in 1915, and Riiser-Larsen in 1930. Most of it was photographed from the air in 1951-52 by NBSAE and delineated from these photos. Additional delineation of the southern and landward margins of the feature was accomplished from air photos taken, by USN Operation Deep Freeze from 1967 to 1969. The feature was named by Norway for Capt. Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen who explored the area from the 1930.

The ice shelf SW-most in Kronprinsesse Märtha Kyst. After major-general Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen. See Riiser-Larsenhalvøya.