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Marie Byrd Land is the portion of Antarcticamarker lying east of the Ross Ice Shelfmarker and the Ross Seamarker and south of the Pacific Oceanmarker, extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelfmarker and Eights Coastmarker. It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W. The inclusion of the area between the Rockefeller Plateau and Eights Coastmarker is based upon the leading role of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in the exploration of this area. The name was originally applied by Admiral Byrd in 1929, in honor of his wife, to the northwestern part of the area, the part that was explored in that year.

Because of its remoteness, even by Antarctic standards, most of Marie Byrd Land (the portion east of 150°W) has not been claimed by any sovereign nation. It is not a recognized nation, making it by far the largest single unclaimed territory on Earth, with an area of 1,610,000 km² (including Eights Coastmarker, immediately east of Marie Byrd Land). In 1939, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt instructed members of the Antarctic expedition to take steps to claim some of Antarctica as territory. Although this appears to have been done by members of this and subsequent expeditions, these do not appear to have been formalized prior to 1959, when the Antarctic Treaty System was set up. Some publications in the US have shown this as US territory in the intervening period, and the Defense Department of the US Government has stated that the US has a solid basis for a claim in Antarctica resulting from its activities prior to 1959. The portion west of 150°W is part of Ross Dependency.


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In 2006, a major encampment, WAIS Divide (WSD) was established on the divide between the Ross Seamarker Embayment and the Amundsen Sea Embayment, in easternmost Marie Byrd Land, in order to drill a high resolution ice core over the following three years.

On Ruppert Coast of Marie Byrd Land is the Russianmarker station Russkaya, which was temporarily unoccupied and is also used as a summer-only station.


  1. Presidential Decision Directive NSC-26

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