Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica

The Ross Ice Shelf is bigger than France. That sentence is easy to type but almost impossible to absorb until you are standing at its edge and looking at a wall of ice that extends to both horizons and rises 50 metres above the waterline. Below the water, another 250 metres of ice descend to the seafloor. The shelf is roughly twice the volume of the North Sea. It has been there, grinding slowly toward the ocean, for thousands of years. Scientists who spent four years logging measurements from instruments lowered through a drilled hole into the ocean cavity beneath it published their findings in early 2026, noting they were looking at one of the least measured bodies of water on Earth.

This is what the Ross Sea is: a place where the superlatives are not exaggerated.

Who Gets Here

Getting to the Ross Ice Shelf is not straightforward, and you should know that before you start planning. This is not a Peninsula cruise. The Ross Sea is accessible for roughly two months per year, January and February, when pack ice retreats enough for expedition ships to pass. Most voyages take 22 to 35 days. You will fly to either Christchurch, New Zealand or Punta Arenas, Chile, board a ship, cross the Southern Ocean (expect two to four days each way in open water with swells that make eating a challenge), and enter one of the most remote marine environments on the planet.

The operators who do this well include Heritage Expeditions, Aurora Expeditions (their Greg Mortimer departed January 2026 on a Ross Sea Odyssey voyage), and Scenic Cruises, whose Eclipse II ran three Ross Sea departures in the 2025-2026 season. Hapag-Lloyd’s Hanseatic Spirit is running an Antarctic semi-circumnavigation in early 2027 that includes the Ross Sea. Prices start around USD 31,000 and scale to USD 80,000 depending on cabin category and itinerary length. This is not a budget destination. It is, however, one of the few places on Earth that routinely renders people speechless regardless of how much they have travelled.

What You Are Looking At

The Ross Sea was first reached by James Clark Ross in 1840 during his expedition aboard HMS Erebus and Terror. Ross pushed through pack ice that no ship had penetrated before and found open water where his charts showed land, which is how you end up with your name on something the size of France. Mount Erebus and Mount Terror on Ross Island are named after his ships. McMurdo Sound is named after his lieutenant, Archibald McMurdo. The geography of this region is still wearing the names Ross’s crew gave it.

The scientific significance of the Ross Sea has only grown since. In the early 2000s, conservation advocates pushed for a Marine Protected Area covering the region. It was finally designated in 2016: the world’s largest marine protected area at the time, covering 1.55 million square kilometres. Commercial fishing for Antarctic toothfish and krill is banned within most of its boundaries.

The Historic Huts

The single most affecting stop on any Ross Sea itinerary is not the ice shelf itself. It is the wooden huts.

Scott’s Hut at Cape Evans on Ross Island was built in 1911 for Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition. Scott and four companions reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find Roald Amundsen’s Norwegian flag already planted there. They died on the return journey. The hut was never occupied after 1913. The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust has conserved it in the state in which it was left, and when you enter, you find provisions still stacked on shelves, sleeping gear still arranged in bunks, and a pair of Scott’s finnesko boots sitting by the door. The cold and dryness of Antarctica have preserved almost everything. It is a genuinely haunting experience and worth more time than most itineraries allow.

Shackleton’s Cape Royds hut from the 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition is close by. Smaller and rougher than Scott’s, it is where Shackleton’s team wintered before making the first attempt (they came within 180 km of the South Pole before turning back due to food shortages). Both huts require site entry only via expedition; independent access is not possible.

McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station, the largest community in Antarctica, sits on the southern tip of Ross Island about three kilometres from New Zealand’s Scott Base. It can support up to 1,200 people at peak summer operations and functions essentially as a small town with a power plant, dozens of research buildings, a harbour, and an airstrip. Expedition cruise passengers can visit McMurdo and Scott Base on some itineraries, weather permitting. These are working science stations, not museums, and the contrast between the century-old preserved huts and the functioning modern station five kilometres away is one of the more surreal aspects of a Ross Sea voyage.

Wildlife

Adelie penguin rookeries in the Ross Sea number in the millions. Cape Royds holds a small Adelie colony; Cape Bird on the north coast of Ross Island holds one of the largest Adelie rookeries in Antarctica. Emperor penguins breed in winter on the sea ice and are less reliably seen on summer expeditions, but Cape Crozier at the eastern end of Ross Island has a large emperor colony and is sometimes reachable by Zodiac. Weddell seals, which can dive to 600 metres and hold their breath for over 80 minutes, haul out on the ice in large numbers. Orcas are commonly sighted in the Ross Sea, hunting in coordinated groups. Minke whales are present throughout.

What Scientists Found Beneath the Ice

In early 2026, researchers published findings from instruments that had been measuring ocean temperature, salinity, and currents in the cavity beneath the Ross Ice Shelf for four consecutive years, the first sustained direct measurements ever taken there. The data showed persistent layering of water at different depths, a structure that had been suspected from a single measurement set in 1978 but never confirmed continuously. The layering appears to isolate the underside of the ice shelf from warmer deep water, which matters enormously for projections about how quickly the shelf might thin or destabilise under continued warming. Research from the same period, drawing on sediment cores and Antarctic dust analysis, found evidence that the Ross Ice Shelf shrank significantly during the last interglacial warm period about 125,000 years ago. What happens next is an open question.

This is not a detail to skip when thinking about visiting. The Ross Ice Shelf you are seeing from a ship’s bow in January 2026 or 2027 is an object under active scientific investigation, changing in ways that are not fully understood. That is part of why going now matters.

Practical Preparation

The Southern Ocean crossing is rough. Most people experience some seasickness. Bring prescription medication (scopolamine patches are widely used) and plan your first day or two at sea around the possibility of not feeling well. Once you are in the pack ice, the water calms considerably.

Cold-weather clothing is supplied by some operators and required by all. Base layers, mid-layers, a serious waterproof outer layer, heavy gloves, and waterproof boots rated to at least minus 20 degrees Celsius are standard. Many operators lend or rent outer expedition gear. Confirm this before packing.

Cameras with full batteries are essential. Cold drains batteries fast; keep spares inside your jacket between shoots. The light in Antarctica in January, where the sun barely sets, is extraordinary and unlike any other light you will have photographed in.

All meals are provided aboard ship. The food quality on modern expedition vessels is generally excellent; this is not a camping trip. Alcohol is available on board. Tipping the expedition team at the end of the voyage is customary and expected.

A Final Note

Research published in April 2026 found converging lines of evidence from the Thwaites Glacier, the Ross Ice Shelf, and other Antarctic sites all pointing toward significant ice retreat ahead. The Ross Ice Shelf is not guaranteed to look the same in 50 years as it does now. That is not a reason to approach it as though it were a dying thing. It is a reason to take the trip seriously and to pay attention while you are there.

Book a confirmed departure, not a waitlist. The Ross Sea is not a destination you talk yourself into eventually. It is one you commit to.