Snow Hill Island

Coordinates: 64°28′S 57°12′W / 64.467°S 57.200°W / -64.467; -57.200
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Snow Hill Island
Snow Hill Island, January 1999
Snow Hill Island is located in Antarctica
Snow Hill Island
Snow Hill Island
Location in Antarctica
Geography
LocationAntarctica
Coordinates64°28′S 57°12′W / 64.467°S 57.200°W / -64.467; -57.200
ArchipelagoJames Ross Island group
Length33 km (20.5 mi)
Width12 km (7.5 mi)
Administration
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System
Demographics
Populationuninhabited

Snow Hill Island is an almost completely snowcapped island, 33 km (21 mi) long and 12 km (7.5 mi) wide, lying off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island to the north-east by Admiralty Sound and from Seymour Island to the north by Picnic Passage. It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to Chile, Argentina and South America than any other part of the Antarctic continent.[1]

History

The island was discovered on 6 January 1843 by a British expedition under

Nordenskjold Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.[2] The American artist Frank Wilbur Stokes, who was aboard the Antarctic, collected fossils from Snow Hill Island. After returning to the United States in 1903, those fossils were described by the palaeontologist Stuart Weller. They include bivalves, gastropods, ammonites, and a lobster.[3]
The lobster, Hoploparia stokesi, was the first arthropod described from Antarctica.

Historic site

Nordenskjöld House, 1902 photograph

The wooden hut built by the main party of the Swedish Expedition in February 1902, also known as Nordenskjöld House, has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 38), following a proposal by Argentina and the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.[4]


Geography

Ice-free

Argentine Antarctic Expedition, 1953–54, after Teniente (lieutenant) Costa Lázara, an Argentine navy pilot who was killed in a flying accident at the Espora Naval Air Base.[6][7]

Partial ammonite
Basalt dike

Haslum Crag is a prominent rock crag close to the island's north coast. It stands 2 nautical miles (4 km) northeast of ice-free Station Nunatak, which rises 150 m (490 ft) tall. They were first seen by members of the

United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee changed it to Haslum Crag, honoring H.J. Haslum, second mate on the Antarctic, the ship of the Swedish expedition.[8] This area of the northeast coast consists of Cretaceous sedimentary rocks with abundant fossils of ammonites, gastropods, and bivalves. There are numerous basalt dikes that project up through the sedimentary rocks near the station Nunatak.[10]

Day Nunatak and Dingle Nunatak appear within the main

Rothera Station, 1986–89, 1991–92, 1993–94; and was a member of the BAS field party in the James Ross Island area from 1994 to 1995.[11] Dingle Nunatak was named after Richard Vernon Dingle, Senior BAS geologist, and a member of the BAS field party in the James Ross Island area from 1994 to 1995.[12]

Sanctuary Cliffs is a rock cliffs at the north edge of the island's central ice cap. It was first surveyed by the SAE, which named them "Mittelnunatak," presumably because of their position near the middle of the north coast of the island. Following survey by FIDS in 1952, it was reported that the term "cliffs" was more suitable than "nunatak" for this feature. UK-APC recommended an entirely new and more distinctive name be approved, and it was dubbed Sanctuary Cliffs in recognition of the way the cliffs provide shelter from the prevailing southwesterly winds.[13]

Important Bird Area

Snow Hill Island's colony of Emperor penguins, photographed in 2007

A site at the south-western extremity of the island, comprising 263 ha of sea ice adjacent to the coast, has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of about 4000 pairs of emperor penguins. It is one of only two such colonies on land in the Antarctic Peninsula region, the other being that at the Dion Islands which is now sadly no longer existent.[14] This colony is also unique in terms of its breeding cycle compared to more southern breeding sites. In winter, incubating males don't feel the darkness of the sky unlike in more southerly populations. Because the ice on which the colony stands on is affected by the sun much later in the year than in other colonies, the development of the emperor chicks is slightly delayed. This gives the chicks in Snow hill a lot more time to lose enough of their fluffy down to head to the sea unlike in other populations, whose chicks arrive to the sea mostly covered in down to a point where they cannot swim yet. This developmental delay also gives tourists an opportunity to visit the colony while the chicks are still under the care of the adults.

See also

References

  1. ^ ESA Science & Technology: Graham Land
  2. ^ Stonehouse (2002)
  3. doi:10.33265/polar.v43.9866
    .
  4. ^ "List of Historic Sites and Monuments approved by the ATCM (2012)" (PDF). Antarctic Treaty Secretariat. 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  5. ^ "Spath Peninsula". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  6. ^ "Cape Lázara". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  7. ^ Alberts, Fred G., ed. (June 1995). Geographic Names of the Antarctic (PDF) (second ed.). United States Board on Geographic Names. p. 424. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Haslum Crag". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Station Nunatak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  10. ^ Joseph Holliday, personal visit with National Geographic
  11. ^ "Day Nunatak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Dingle Nunatak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Sanctuary Cliffs". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  14. ^ "Snow Hill Island". BirdLife data zone: Important Bird Areas. BirdLife International. 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.

Further reading

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.

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