Nilsen Plateau is a rugged, ice-covered plateau which, including Fram Mesa

Fram Mesa

Fram Mesa is a high, ice-capped mesa, 10 nautical miles long and 1 to 3 nautical miles wide, that forms the northeast portion of Nilsen Plateau in the Queen Maud Mountains. The feature may have been seen by Amundsen in 1911, and it was observed and partially mapped by the Byrd Antarctic...

, is about 30 nautical miles (60 km) long and 1 to 12 nautical miles (22 km) wide, rising to 3,940 m between the upper reaches of the Amundsen and Scott Glaciers, 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...

. Discovered in November 1911 by the Norwegian expedition under Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....

, and named by him for Captain Thorvald Nilsen, commander of the ship Fram.