Fram Mesa is a high, ice-capped

Ice cap

An ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50 000 km² of land area . Masses of ice covering more than 50 000 km² are termed an ice sheet....

 mesa, 10 nautical miles (18 km) long and 1 to 3 nautical miles (6 km) wide, that forms the northeast portion of Nilsen Plateau

Nilsen Plateau

Nilsen Plateau is a rugged, ice-covered plateau which, including Fram Mesa, is about 30 nautical miles long and 1 to 12 nautical miles wide, rising to 3,940 m between the upper reaches of the Amundsen and Scott Glaciers, in the Queen Maud Mountains...

 in the Queen Maud Mountains

Queen Maud Mountains

The Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the polar plateau in Antarctica...

. The feature may have been seen by Amundsen in 1911, and it was observed and partially mapped by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition of 1928-30 and 1933-35. It was mapped in detail by United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

 (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960-64. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica...

(US-ACAN) after the Fram, the ship used by Amundsen's expedition of 1910-12.