MARIE BYRD LAND

unclaimed region of Antarctica, bordering on the South Pacific Ocean and extending from the Ross Sea and Ice Shelf (west) to Ellsworth Land (east). The barren, ice-capped region averages 2,6006,500 ft (8002,000 m) above sea level in altitude, except along its mountainous coast, where in the Flood and Executive Committee ranges there are several peaks more than 11,000 ft. Discovered in 1929 by the U.S. naval commander and explorer Richard E. Byrd and named by him in honour of his wife, it was first mapped and surveyed by a co-worker, Paul A. Siple, in 1935. The U.S. research base, Byrd Station, was opened in 1959 and has from 20 to 30 people working there in the warmer months.