We conducted a seismic survey at the front of the Ross Ice Shelf under the premise that the advancing ice sheet will in time cover the survey thereby allowing targeted drilling into the seabed from the ice shelf. We propose sites on the Coulman High (~77.46 S; 171.23 – 171.68 E) to sample earliest Miocene and older section to address themes on evolution and stability of the cryosphere, warm climate periods in the Early Tertiary, orbital variability controls on climate, and tectonics within the West Antarctic Rift System and the Transantarctic Mountains. The sites are located in the C-19 iceberg calving site east of Ross Island, 125 km overland in a straight line NE from McMurdo Station, on the Coulman High between the Victoria Land Basin and the Central Trough. The water depth here is 834-871 m and the Ross Ice Shelf is 229-251 m thick.