Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames existed, namely xing (Chinese: å§; pinyin: xÃ¬ng) or lineage names, and shi (Chinese: æ°; pinyin: shÃ¬) or clan names.
An ice sheet is a large permanent layer of ice covering a continental shelf, defined as having an extent greater than 50,000 km2 (19,305 mi2). An ice sheet is larger than a glacier or ice shelf.
The ice is estimated to be about 2,700 metres (9,000 ft) thick at the Pole, so the land surface under the ice sheet is actually near sea level. The polar ice sheet is moving at a rate of roughly 10 metres per year in a direction between 37Â° and 40Â° west of grid north, down towards the Weddell Sea.