Ronne Entrance is a broad southwest entrance of the

George VI Sound George VI Sound or Canal Jorge VI or Canal Presidente Sarmiento or Canal Seaver or King George VI Sound or King George the Sixth Sound is a major bay/ fault depression, 300 miles (483 km) long and mainly covered by a permanent ice shelf. It ...

where it opens from the southeast portion of the

Bellingshausen Sea The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between 57°18'W and 102°20'W, west of Alexander Island, east of Cape Flying Fish on Thurston Island, and south of Peter I Island (there the southern ''Vostokkyste ...

at the southwest side of

Alexander Island Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarc ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. The south side of the

Monteverdi Peninsula Monteverdi Peninsula () is a large ice-covered peninsula lying between the Bach Ice Shelf and George VI Sound, forming the southernmost extremity of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The southern side of the feature was first seen and charted by Finn ...

occupies the north portion of the Ronne Entrance while

Ellsworth Land Ellsworth Land is a portion of the Antarctic continent bounded on the west by Marie Byrd Land, on the north by Bellingshausen Sea, on the northeast by the base of Antarctic Peninsula, and on the east by the western margin of the Filchner–Ron ...

occupies the southern portion of the entrance. The entrance receives much

ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

throughout the whole year mainly because the entrance protrudes eastward into the adjacent George VI Sound and the

George VI Ice Shelf The George VI Ice Shelf () is an extensive ice shelf that occupies George VI Sound which separates Alexander Island from Palmer Land in Antarctica. The ice shelf extends from Ronne Entrance, at the southwest end of the sound, to Niznik Island ...

from the southwest section, the Ronne Entrance is also prone to ice flow from the

Bach Ice Shelf The Bach Ice Shelf () is an ice shelf which is irregular in shape and in extent, occupying an embayment in the south part of Alexander Island entered between Berlioz Point and Rossini Point. The ice shelf supports the south face of the Beeth ...

(which separates the south side of the

Beethoven Peninsula The Beethoven Peninsula is a deeply indented, ice-covered peninsula, long in a northeast–southwest direction and wide at its broadest part, forming the southwest part of Alexander Island, which lies off the southwestern portion of the Antarct ...

from the north side of the Monteverdi Peninsula) as well as receiving ice from the

Wilkins Ice Shelf Wilkins or Wilkin is a name variant of William, and may refer to: People Given name: Wilkin * Wilkins (singer) (Germán Wilkins Vélez Ramírez, born 1953), Puerto Rican pop music singer and composer * Wilkin Castillo (born 1984), Dominican b ...

(mainly from the southernmost end of the ice shelf). There are a few

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

situated within the Ronne Entrance, mainly in the southwest area. Some of these islands include the

Eklund Islands The Eklund Islands () are a group of islands which rise through the ice near the southwest end of George VI Sound towards the south of the Antarctic Peninsula. The largest island, in extent and rising to , was discovered in December 1940 by Fin ...

, DeAtley Island,

Spaatz Island Spaatz Island is a large ice-covered island of Antarctica. It lies south west of Alexander Island and west of the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, close to the coast of Palmer Land, east of Smyley Island. It is long and wide, and covers an ...

, Case Island and

Smyley Island Smyley Island is an Antarctic island lying off the Antarctic Peninsula. The island is long and from wide, and lies about north of Case Island. It connects to the Stange Ice Shelf and is separated from Alexander Island by the Ronne Entran ...

. It was discovered on a sledge journey through the sound in December 1940 by U.S.

Polar explorer This list is for recognised pioneering explorers of the polar regions. It does not include subsequent travelers and expeditions. Polar explorers * Jameson Adams * Stian Aker * Valerian Albanov * Roald Amundsen * Salomon August Andrée * Piotr F ...

Finn Ronne Finn Ronne (December 20, 1899 – January 12, 1980) was a Norwegian-born U.S. citizen and Antarctic explorer. Background Finn Ronne was born in Horten, in Vestfold county, Norway. His father, Martin Rønne (1861–1932), was a polar explorer w ...

and

Carl Eklund Carl Robert Eklund (January 27, 1909 – November 3, 1962) was a leading American specialist in ornithology and geographic research in both the north and south polar regions. He was appointed as the first Scientific Station Leader of the Wilkes S ...

of the

US Antarctic Service The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

(USAS), 1939–41, and named "Ronne Bay". Finn Ronne covered more miles by ski and sled dog than any other explorer in history and mapped the last unknown coastline on earth on his

Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition The Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) was an expedition from 1947–1948 which researched the area surrounding the head of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Background Finn Ronne led the RARE which was the final privately sponsored exp ...

in 1947.Navy Military History
/ref> Since 1940, the head of the bay has receded eastward into George VI Sound, altering the relationships on which the name was based. The name was therefore changed to Ronne Entrance, in keeping with the physical characteristics of the feature. Named after the Ronne family, of which the father,

Martin Rønne Martin Richard Rønne (September 15, 1861 – May 15, 1932) was a Norwegian sail maker and polar explorer. Rønne was born in Hamar. He took part in Roald Amundsen's expedition to Antarctica in 1910–1912, where he was one of those that remained ...

, was a member of the Norwegian expedition under Amundsen, 1910–12, and the

Byrd Antarctic Expedition Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...

1928–30; the son, Finn Ronne (d.1980), was a member of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1933–35, and the USAS, 1939–41. As captain, Finn Ronne headed the

, 1947–49 and became scientific and military leader for a U.S. Weddell Sea base. His wife,

Edith Ronne Jackie Ronne (October 13, 1919 – June 14, 2009) was an American explorer of Antarctica and the first woman in the world to be a working member of an Antarctic expedition (1947–48). She is also the namesake of the Ronne Ice Shelf. Biography ...

, became the first woman to overwinter on the continent.

References

Straits of Antarctica Argentine Antarctica British Antarctic Territory Chilean Antarctic Territory Bays of Antarctica Bodies of water of Alexander Island {{AlexanderIsland-geo-stub