Backer Islands are a chain of small islands at the south side of Cranton Bay

Cranton Bay

Cranton Bay is a bay about 20 nautical miles long and wide, lying south of Canisteo Peninsula at the east end of Amundsen Sea. The south limit of the bay is formed by the Backer Islands and an ice shelf which separates this bay from Pine Island Bay. Mapped from air photos taken by U.S. Navy...

. The islands trend northwest for 12 miles (19.3 km) from the ice shelf

Ice shelf

An ice shelf is a thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica, Greenland and Canada. The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded ice that feeds it is called...

 which forms the southern limit of the bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

. They were mapped by the United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

 from surveys and from U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–66, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica...

 for Walter K. Backer, U.S. Navy, chief construction mechanic at Byrd Station

Byrd Station

Byrd Station refers to a research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by the U.S. Navy during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica at 80°, 120°W...

, 1967.