Weddell Sea
Arm of the Atlantic Ocean, SE of Argentina; bounded by the Antarctic Peninsula (W), Coats Land (E), and S Orkney and Sandwich Is (N); ice shelves cover the S extent; named after James Weddell (17871834), who claimed to have discovered the sea in 1823.
Portions of the summary below have been contributed by Wikipedia.
Much of the southern part of the sea, up to Elephant Island, is permanent ice, the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The sea is contained within the two overlapping Antarctic territorial claims of
Argentina, (Argentine Antarctica) and Britain (British Antarctic Territory), and also resides partially within the territorial claim of Chile (Antarctic Chilean Territory).The sea is named after the British sailor James Weddell who entered the sea in 1823 as far as 74° S.
It was in this sea that Shackleton's ship, the Endurance was trapped and crushed by ice in 1915.
It is believed that the break-up of Gondwana started in the Weddell Sea.
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