Ross Dependency

A Continent at the End of the World

The Ross Dependency is New Zealand's remote Antarctic territory, stretching from the Ross Sea to the South Pole across 160 degrees east to 150 degrees west longitude. It is a place of staggering scale and silence, where the Ross Ice Shelf -- one of the largest floating bodies of ice on Earth -- creaks and groans under its own immensity. Victoria Land rises from the ice in dark volcanic ridges, and the Transantarctic Mountains carve a dramatic spine across the horizon.

Scott Base and the Legacy of Exploration

New Zealand's Scott Base on Ross Island has been continuously occupied since Sir Edmund Hillary established it during the 1957 International Geophysical Year. Painted a distinctive lime green, it sits a short walk from the United States' McMurdo Station and serves as the operational and scientific hub of the New Zealand Antarctic Programme. The base is named in honour of Robert Falcon Scott, whose ill-fated 1912 polar expedition remains one of the most compelling stories in exploration history.

Ice, Fire, and Extraordinary Wildlife

The Ross Dependency offers some of the most otherworldly scenery on the planet. Mount Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano, looms over Ross Island and occasionally vents plumes of gas and lava into the polar sky. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are among the driest places on Earth, their rocky floors exposed by katabatic winds that scour away all snow and ice. Adelie and emperor penguins breed along the coastline, and Weddell seals haul themselves onto the sea ice throughout the long Antarctic winter.

Science at the Frontier

Access to the Ross Dependency is limited to researchers, support staff, and a small number of expedition visitors. New Zealand administers the territory under the Antarctic Treaty System, which holds all sovereignty claims in abeyance and dedicates the continent to peaceful scientific cooperation. Studies conducted here cover glaciology, volcanology, climate history, and marine biology, with ice cores drilled from the Ross Ice Shelf offering a record of Earth's atmosphere stretching back hundreds of thousands of years.