Pine Island Glacier flows into which bay in Antarctica?

Pine Island Glacier flows into Pine Island Bay in Antarctica.

The glacier is a major ice stream of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It flows west-northwest along the southern side of the Hudson Mountains before reaching Pine Island Bay, which forms part of the Amundsen Sea. Its floating terminus and coastal position connect the inland ice sheet to the ocean.

Pine Island Glacier drains an area of about 175,000 square kilometres, roughly 10% of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Along with nearby Thwaites Glacier, it is one of the region’s most important routes for ice loss to the sea. Unlike many West Antarctic ice streams, the two do not primarily flow into a large, established ice shelf.

The glacier is often discussed in climate science because satellite observations show rapid change in its ice flow and floating ice shelf. Pine Island Bay is therefore more than a geographic label: it is the marine outlet through which a vast inland drainage basin exports ice toward the Amundsen Sea.