MacAyeal Ice Stream formerly Ice Stream E, flows west to the juncture of Shirase and Siple Coast

Siple Coast

Siple Coast is the middle portion of the relatively ill-defined coast along the east side of the Ross Ice Shelf, between the north end of Gould Coast and the south end of Shirase Coast . The area was originally called Kirton Coast, but was renamed by NZ-APC in 1961 after Paul A. Siple, a noted...

s between Bindschadler Ice Stream

Bindschadler Ice Stream

Bindschadler Ice Stream is an ice stream between Siple Dome and MacAyeal Ice Stream. It is one of several major ice streams draining from Marie Byrd Land into the Ross Ice Shelf. The ice streams were investigated and mapped by U.S...

 and Echelmeyer Ice Stream

Echelmeyer Ice Stream

The Echelmeyer Ice Stream is a glaciological feature of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, formerly known as Ice Stream F. It was renamed in 2001 in honor of Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks glaciologist Dr. Keith Echelmeyer, who was a student of Barclay Kamb for whom Kamb Ice...

, Antarctica. It is one of several major ice stream

Ice stream

An ice stream is a region of an ice sheet that moves significantly faster than the surrounding ice. Ice streams are a type of glacier. They are significant features of the Antarctic where they account for 10% of the volume of the ice...

s draining from Marie Byrd Land

Marie Byrd Land

Marie Byrd Land is the portion of West Antarctica lying east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean, extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast. It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W...

 into the Ross Ice Shelf

Ross Ice Shelf

The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...

. The ice streams were investigated and mapped by USARP personnel in a number of field seasons from 1983-84 and named Ice Stream A, B, C, etc., according to their position from south to north. The name was changed by US-ACAN in 2002 to honor Douglas R. MacAyeal, Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USAP investigator in the Ross Sea area including study of the Ross Ice Shelf, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

West Antarctic Ice Sheet

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is the segment of the continental ice sheet that covers West Antarctica, the portion of Antarctica on the side of the Transantarctic Mountains which lies in the Western Hemisphere. The WAIS is classified as a marine-based ice sheet, meaning that its bed lies well...

and the Marie Byrd Land ice streams, 1989-2002.