Robert Island (Antarctica)
| Robert Island | ||
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| Waters | Southern ocean | |
| Archipelago | South Shetland Islands | |
| Geographical location | 62 ° 24 ′ S , 59 ° 30 ′ W | |
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| length | 18 km | |
| width | 13 km | |
| surface | 185.8 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 385 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
| main place | Luis Risopatrón (summer station) | |
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Robert Island (also Mitchells Island , Polotsk Island or Roberts Island ) is an island in the archipelago of the South Shetland Islands and lies Nelson Island and Greenwich Island . It is about 18 km long, 13 km wide and 186 km² in size.
The Chilean research station Luis Risopatrón , which is not permanently manned, is located on an isthmus at the beginning of the Coppermine Peninsula . The peninsula, which ends in the western tip of Robert Island ( Fort William ), is Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 112 under the special protection of the Antarctic Treaty . The primary protection goal is the preservation of the ecosystem , which is characterized by varied vegetation and terrestrial fauna as well as a rich bird life . The peninsula has colonies of chinstrap penguins , giant petrels , blue-footed petrels , antipodean terns and Dominican gulls .
The island was discovered in October 1819 by the British navigator William Smith . Edward Bransfield made the first rough mapping between January and February 1820, but mistakenly believed it to be a single large land mass, along with Nelson Island and Greenwich Island. Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen carried out another mapping on January 25, 1821. Their actual character as a single island was also revealed in 1821 by Samuel H. Goddard, first mate on the American sealer Huron under Captain John Davis . The name in the same year goes back to the British seal hunter Robert Fildes (1793-1827). Its namesake is his ship Robert .
cards
- LL Ivanov: Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands . Topographic map on a scale of 1: 120,000. Manfred Wörner Foundation, Troyan, 2009, ISBN 978-954-92032-6-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ UNEP Islands Directory (English)
- ^ Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty: Coppermine Peninsula, Robert Island, South Shetland Islands (PDF; 406 kB), Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 112, 2012 (English)
- ^ John Stewart: Antarctica - An Encyclopedia . Vol. 2, McFarland & Co., Jefferson and London 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6 , p. 1307 (English).
