Inexpressible Island
| Inexpressible Island | ||
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| Waters | Terra Nova Bay | |
| Geographical location | 74 ° 54 ' S , 163 ° 43' E | |
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| length | 12 km | |
| width | 4 km | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
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Inexpressible Island is an uninhabited Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean .
Geographical location
Inexpressible Island is located in Terra Nova Bay , a large bay in the Ross Sea , not far from the coast of the Victoria Land in eastern Antarctica . The term eastern Antarctica refers to the part of Antarctica that is on the opposite side of the large Antarctic peninsula, cf. also Palmerland .
history
Inexpressible Island was first entered by six English sailors on January 8, 1912. They were part of the Terra Nova expedition under the command of the British Robert Falcon Scott . The men were given the task of doing various research tasks and were then supposed to return to base camp on the Terra Nova . However, due to heavy pack ice , the Terra Nova could not get through to them, and so the men had to winter in a snow cave. The current name of the island comes from these men, whereby English inexpressible is 'inexpressible, indescribable' , a euphemism for various swear words that the men used to describe the island because of its catastrophic living conditions. A first rescue attempt took place in April, but it failed. In spring, on September 30th, the men set out on the 320-kilometer return trip, which ended on November 5th.
For a more detailed description of the wintering of the group in the context of the Terra Nova Expedition see here
Flora, fauna and geology
Inexpressible Island is a very stony island, on which the stone deposit is several meters high in some places. There are hardly any places on the island with a visible humus layer . Rock moss and other very small plants are the only plants that can survive on the island. Penguins and a few leopard seals are the only vertebrates on the island.
Web links
- Inexpressible Island in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey (English)
- Inexpressible Island on geographic.org (English)
- Inexpressible Island. In: Kenneth J. Bertrand and Fred G. Alberts, Geographic names of Antarctica , US Govt. Print. Off., Washington 1956, p. 168 (English)