The George VI Ice Shelf (71°45′S 68°00′W) is an extensive 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...

 that occupies George VI Sound

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 long in the shape of the letter J, which skirts the east and south shores of Alexander Island, separating it from the...

 between Alexander Island

Alexander Island

Alexander Island or Alexander I Island or Alexander I Land or Alexander Land is the largest island of Antarctica, with an area of lying in the Bellingshausen Sea west of the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. Alexander Island lies off...

 and Palmer Land

Palmer Land

Palmer Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between US-ACAN and UK-APC, in which the name Antarctic Peninsula was approved for the major peninsula of...

 in Antarctica. The ice shelf extends from Ronne Entrance

Ronne Entrance

Ronne Entrance is a broad southwest entrance of the George VI Sound where it opens on Bellingshausen Sea at the southwest side of Alexander Island. It was discovered on a sledge journey through the sound in December 1940 by U.S. Polar explorer Finn Ronne and Carl Eklund of the US Antarctic Service...

, at the southwest end of the sound

Sound (geography)

In geography a sound or seaway is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord; or it may be defined as a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land ....

, to Niznik Island

Niznik Island

Niznik Island is an island in the north part of George VI Sound, lying opposite the mouth of Eureka Glacier near the coast of Palmer Land. Discovered by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition , 1947–48, under Ronne, who named it for the Theodore T. Niznik family of Baltimore, MD, contributors to...

, about 30 nautical miles (56 km) south of the north entrance between Cape Brown

Cape Brown

Cape Brown is a prominent ice-covered cape north-northeast of the summit of Mount Nicholas, marking the eastern side of the entrance to Schokalsky Bay on the northeast coast of Alexander Island. It was first seen from a distance by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot in...

 and Cape Jeremy

Cape Jeremy

Cape Jeremy is a cape marking the east side of the north entrance to George VI Sound and the west end of a line dividing Graham Land and Palmer Land. It was discovered by the British Graham Land Expedition , 1934–37, under Rymill, who named it for Jeremy Scott, son of J.M. Scott, who served as...

. It was named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in association with George VI Sound.