Ross Island
| Ross Island | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Ross Sea | |
| Archipelago | Ross Archipelago | |
| Geographical location | 77 ° 30 ′ S , 167 ° 42 ′ E | |
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| length | 79 km | |
| width | 75 km | |
| surface | 2 460 km² | |
| Highest elevation |
Mount Erebus 3794 m |
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| Residents | 261 station staff (winter) <1 inh / km² |
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| main place | ( McMurdo station ) | |
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The Ross Island is a 2,460 square kilometer volcanic island in the Ross Sea of Antarctica , near the coast of Victoria Land . Sir James Clark Ross discovered them in 1841; Robert F. Scott named this island after him. Ross named two of the three volcanoes on the island, Mount Terror and Mount Erebus, after his ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus . The third volcano is called Mount Bird and is located on the northern peninsula that ends at Cape Bird . Only Mount Erebus is still active today.
Also to the north is Cape Tennyson , to the east is Cape Crozier . This is where the Ross Ice Shelf begins , which permanently connects Ross Island to the south with the continent's land mass. Cape MacKay on the southeastern foothills of the island is located in the Ross Ice Shelf. To the west of this the ice shelf begins on the Hut Point Peninsula , the southernmost tip of which is Cape Armitage . There are both New Zealand Antarctic station Scott Base and the McMurdo Station , which the US Antarctic Program is owned and is the largest Antarctic settlement. On the west side of Ross Island, in McMurdo Sound Bay, are Cape Evans and Cape Royds .
Ross Island was the starting point for several expeditions to Antarctica as it is the southernmost island that can be reached from the sea. The three huts that Scott and Ernest Henry Shackleton built on the island during their expeditions in the early 20th century still exist.
In 1979 Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed on the north slope of Mount Erebus, killing 257 people. Much of the aircraft wreck is still visible on the slope of the mountain.
Picture gallery
McMurdo Sound and Ross Island
Scott's Hut on Cape Evans
Shackleton's cabin at Cape Royds
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