McMurdo Ice Shelf is the portion of 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...

 bounded by McMurdo Sound

McMurdo Sound

The ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound extend about 55 km long and wide. The sound opens into the Ross Sea to the north. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to 13,205 feet on the western shoreline. The nearby McMurdo Ice Shelf scribes McMurdo Sound's southern boundary...

 and Ross Island

Ross Island

Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound.-Geography:...

 on the north and Minna Bluff

Minna Bluff

Minna Bluff is a rocky promontory at the eastern end of a volcanic Antarctic peninsula projecting deep into the Ross Ice Shelf at . It forms a long, narrow arm which culminates in a south-pointing hook feature , and is the subject of research into Antarctic cryosphere history, funded by the...

 on the south. Studies show this feature has characteristics quite distinct from 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...

 and merits individual naming. A.J. Heine, who made investigations in 1962-63, suggested the name for the ice shelf bounded by Ross Island

Ross Island

Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound.-Geography:...

, Brown Peninsula

Brown Peninsula

Brown Peninsula is a nearly ice-free peninsula, long and wide, which rises above the Ross Ice Shelf northward of Mount Discovery, to which it is connected by a low isthmus. It was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, which named it "Brown Island" because of its color...

, Black Island

Black Island (Ross Archipelago)

Black Island , in the Ross Archipelago, is immediately west of White Island. It was first named by the Discovery Expedition because of its lack of snow. The island's northernmost point is named Cape Hodgson, commemorating Thomas Vere Hodgson .The highest point is Mt. Aurora, a prinicple...

 and White Island

White Island (Ross Archipelago)

White Island is an island in the Ross Archipelago, long, protruding through the Ross Ice Shelf immediately east of Black Island. It was discovered by the Discovery Expedition and so named by them because of the mantle of snow which covers it....

. 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...

 (US-ACAN) has extended the application of this name to include the contiguous ice shelf southward to Minna Bluff

Minna Bluff

Minna Bluff is a rocky promontory at the eastern end of a volcanic Antarctic peninsula projecting deep into the Ross Ice Shelf at . It forms a long, narrow arm which culminates in a south-pointing hook feature , and is the subject of research into Antarctic cryosphere history, funded by the...

.

In March 2010, while scientists were taking photographs of the underside of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, they discovered a living Lyssianasid amphipod.