Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- sound
- Named after
- Archibald McMurdo
- Continent
- Antarctica
- Image
- Mcmurdo sound USGS map.jpg
- Width
- 55
- Length
- 55
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- McMurdo Sound
- native label
- McMurdo Sound
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~22 min read
Encyclopedic overview
McMurdo Sound, Antarctica Weddell seal underwater in McMurdo Sound The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) from the South Pole.
Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of HMS Terror. The sound serves as a resupply route for cargo ships and airplanes that land on floating ice airstrips near McMurdo Station. The McMurdo seasonal Ice Runway was operated from October to December from the 1950s to the 2010s, then in December the ice breaks up and McMurdo port is opened by an Icebreaker ship and ships can resupply the Antarctic bases.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “McMurdo Sound” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.