The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. Much of the southern part of the sea, up to Elephant Island, is permanent ice, the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The entire sea is part of the Argentinian claim in Antarctica. At its widest the sea is around 2,000 km, in area it is around 2.8 million km²
The sea is named after the British sailor James Weddell who entered the sea in 1823 as far as 74° S. It was first widely explored by the Scot William Bruce over 1902-04. In was in this sea that Shackleton's ship, the Endurance was trapped and crushed by ice.
It is believed that the break-up of Gondwana started in the Weddell Sea.
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 first widely explored by the Scot William S. Bruce over 1902-04.
A sea is a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, or a large, usually saline, lake that lacks a natural outlet such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea.
Many seas are marginal seas, in which currents are caused by ocean winds; others are mediterranean seas, in which currents are caused by differences in salinity and temperature.
Dirac sea is an interpretation of the negative energy states that comprises the vacuum.
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