part of partially_surrounded_by has quality located in adjacent to formed as result of attached to sea coast ice shelf http://sweetontology.net/realmCryo/IceShelf SWEETRealm:IceShelf An ice mass which 1) is attached to the coast 2) at least 2 meters in thickness 3) forms where a glacier or ice mass flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface and 4) grows by annual snow accumulation or by the seaward extension of land glaciers. envoPolar An ice shelf may grow hundreds of miles out to sea. Usually of great horizontal extent and with a level or gently undulating surface. Nourished by annual snow accumulation and also by the seaward extension of land glaciers. Limited areas may be aground. Ice shelves are much thicker than sea ice often filling embayments in the coastline of an ice sheet.. Currently, nearly all ice shelves are in Antarctica, where most of the ice discharged into the ocean flows via ice shelves. The mass balance of an ice shelf may have significant components of both gain and loss at the base. The seaward edge is termed an ice front. The calving of an ice shelf forms tabular icebergs and ice islands. marine water body atmosphere planetary landmass snowfall mass ice flow land ice mass buoyancy system anatomical structure