Princess Martha Coast

the western coast of Queen Maude Land (eastern Antarctica), approximately between 20° W long, and 5° E long.

Princess Martha Coast is primarily a zone of shelf glaciers up to 200 km wide; in the south the zone connects with the continental ice cap. In 1950-51 the British-Norwegian Maudheim expedition operated out of a scientific station on Princess Martha Coast; between 1957 and 1961 the Norwegian station Norvegia was in operation, and since 1962 the Republic of South Africa’s Sanae station has been there. Considerable research has been carried out in the eastern part by members of Soviet antarctic expeditions. The coast was discovered on Jan. 28, 1820, by F. F. Bellingshauzen and M. P. Lazarev, members of the Russian antarctic expedition who were the first to see the antarctic continent in this region. In the 1930’s the coast was again spotted by H. Riiser-Larsen’s Norwegian expedition and named in honor of the princess of Norway.