Ice rise

[1] An ice rise forms where the ice shelf touches the seabed due to a locally increased elevation of the seabed, which however remains below sea level.

(In contrast, an elevation in the seabed that extends above sea level is defined as an island).

The resulting stress increases cause crevasse formation around the ice rise.

Elaborate measurements may be required to distinguish between these two geographic features.

Ice rises are of scientific significance because they (a) exert considerable buttressing,[1] which affects the existence and rate of the marine ice sheet instability; and (b) they are very good sites for ice coring,[2] owing to their being somewhat thinner than the main ice-sheet (hundreds of metres compared with thousands of metres).