Cook Ice Shelf is an 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...

 about 55 mile wide, occupying a deep recession of the coastline between Cape Freshfield

Cape Freshfield

Cape Freshfield is an ice-covered cape between Deakin Bay and the Cook Ice Shelf at Cook Bay. The coastline in this vicinity was first roughly charted by the United States Exploring Expedition under Lt. Charles Wilkes, and for a period this cape was thought to be Wilkes' Cape Hudson...

 and Cape Hudson, to the east of Deakin Bay

Deakin Bay

Deakin Bay is a wide, open bay on the coast between Horn Bluff and Cape Freshfield. The bay was roughly delineated by the Far Eastern Party of Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Alfred Deakin, Prime Minister of Australia in 1910...

. This indentation was called Cook Bay by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition

Australasian Antarctic Expedition

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was an Australasian scientific team that explored part of Antarctica between 1911 and 1914. It was led by the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson, who was knighted for his achievements in leading the expedition. In 1910 he began to plan an expedition to chart...

, 1911–14, under Douglas Mawson

Douglas Mawson

Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...

, who named it for Joseph Cook

Joseph Cook

Sir Joseph Cook, GCMG was an Australian politician and the sixth Prime Minister of Australia. Born as Joseph Cooke and working in the coal mines of Silverdale, Staffordshire during his early life, he emigrated to Lithgow, New South Wales during the late 1880s, and became General-Secretary of the...

, Prime Minister of Australia

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

 in 1914. The generic term has been amended, as the bay is permanently filled by an ice shelf.

Scientists studying the effects of global warming

Effects of global warming

This article is about the effects of global warming and climate change. The effects, or impacts, of climate change may be physical, ecological, social or economic. Evidence of observed climate change includes the instrumental temperature record, rising sea levels, and decreased snow cover in the...

 have proposed that sea water encroachment in the area could destabilize a significant portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

East Antarctic Ice Sheet

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is one of two large ice sheets in Antarctica, and the largest on the entire planet. The EAIS lies between 45° West and 168° East longitudinally....

.