South Shetland Islands
| South Shetland Islands | ||
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| Waters | Southern ocean | |
| Geographical location | 62 ° 0 ′ S , 58 ° 0 ′ W | |
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| Number of islands | 11 larger islands | |
| Main island | King George Island | |
| Total land area | 4700 km² | |
The South Shetland Islands are a sub-Antarctic archipelago in the Southern Ocean , north of the Antarctic Peninsula .
geography
The South Shetland Islands consist of a group of eleven larger and several small islands that extend over 508 kilometers in a northeast-southwest direction. The islands are separated from the Antarctic continent by a 150 km wide strait ( Bransfield Strait ). They are of continental origin and they include some active and extinct volcanoes . 80 percent of the land mass is glaciated . The highest point in the chain of islands is Mount Irving at 2,300 meters on Clarence Island . Mount Foster at 2105 meters on Smith Island is the highest point in the southern group of the archipelago. The islands have a total area of around 4700 km².
The larger islands from north to south
- Cornwallis Island
- Elephant Island
- Clarence Island
- Rowett Island
- Gibbs Island
- King George Island
- Bridgeman Island
- Penguin Island
- Nelson Island
- Robert Island
- Greenwich Island
- Half Moon Island
- Livingston Island
- Rugged Island
- Snow Island
- Smith Island
- Deception Island
- Low Island
climate
The climate on the islands is relatively mild by Antarctic standards. Winter, which falls on European summer, is characterized by permafrost (around −10 ° C) and darkness. The sun can only be seen more frequently from August onwards and a significant increase in temperature can be felt in September. From November onwards, the temperatures will gradually rise above zero degrees. The short summer always remains quite cool with maximum temperatures of 2 to 3 ° C, with the sun disappearing behind the horizon for only a few hours in December . From December to March the sea is temporarily free of ice, but by the end of April pack ice is forming again , which can hold into December. On land there is snow 6 to 10 months a year, and at higher altitudes all year round. Precipitation falls all year round (~ 500 mm), mostly in the form of snow (only in summer also as rain or snow-rain) with a small minimum in summer.
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Average monthly temperatures for the South Shetland Islands
Source: missing
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Discovery and settlement
It is possible that the South Shetland Islands were discovered by Dirk Gerritz as early as 1599 ; and Gabriel de Castilla could during his trip to the Antarctic Ocean in 1603 the Archipelago have first sighted. The first secured sighting was reported by the Englishman William Smith , who had strayed off course while bypassing Cape Horn and in 1819 identified what would later become Livingston Island , but did not set foot on it. After not believing his observations, he returned to the area in October of the same year and entered the main island of the archipelago, which was named King George Island the following year . Smith then returned to Valparaíso and claimed the archipelago under the name New Shetland Islands for Great Britain.
In 1820, Edward Bransfield , accompanied by William Smith , traveled again to the islands as a pilot on behalf of the Royal Navy in order to map and scientifically research them. He explored the surrounding waters and discovered the mainland of Antarctica . Whether Bransfield was actually the first to discover the Antarctic continent is debatable. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the islands were frequently visited by whale and seal hunters as well as some scientific expeditions. The first permanent residents were there from 1944.
Residents and stations
Today there are numerous scientific stations on the South Shetland Islands . The islands are very attractive as a location for bases and research bases because of their relatively mild climate and their proximity to the South American mainland. The only civil settlement is the Chilean village of Villa Las Estrellas on King George Island .
Ownership claims
The archipelago is part of the Chilean and Argentine as well as the British Antarctic Territory . It has been under the Antarctic Treaty since 1961 , which does not allow the exercise of state sovereignty, so that the competing claims of the states are currently suspended. All three states and numerous other nations have research stations on the South Shetland Islands. Chile has an air force base on King George Island .
Contacts with the outside world and nature conservation
The archipelago is also visited by some cruise ships every year in the summer months , but several areas are under strict nature protection based on the Antarctic Treaty and are therefore not accessible to tourists.
literature
- AGE Jones: Captain William Smith and the Discovery of New South Shetland . In: Geographical Journal 141 (3), 1975, pp. 445-461 (English)
- Alan Gurney: Below the Convergence. Voyages Toward Antarctica, 1699–1839 , Penguin Books, New York 1998, ISBN 978-0-393-32904-9 (English)
- RJ Campbell (Ed.): The Discovery of the South Shetland Islands. The Voyage of the Brig Williams, 1819–1820 and the Journal of Midshipman CW Poynter , The Hakluyt Society, London 2000, ISBN 0-904180-62-X (English)
- Ian R. Stone: Discovery of South Shetland Islands . In: Beau Riffenburgh (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Antarctic , Routledge, New York and London 2007, pp. 926 f, ISBN 0-415-97024-5 (English)
cards
- Maps of Livingston Island and Greenwich Island , 1: 100,000, Sofia, 2005
- 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
