Zavodovski Island

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zavodovski Island
Zavodovski Island oblique.jpg
Waters South Atlantic
Archipelago South Sandwich Islands
Geographical location 56 ° 18 ′  S , 27 ° 35 ′  W Coordinates: 56 ° 18 ′  S , 27 ° 35 ′  W
Location of Zavodovski Island
length 4.4 km
width 3.8 km
surface about 15 km²dep1
Highest elevation Mount Curry
551  m
Residents uninhabited
NASA image of Zavodovski Island
NASA image of Zavodovski Island

Zavodovski Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the British overseas territory " South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands " in the South Atlantic .

Zavodovski is located about 550 km southeast of the main island of South Georgia in the archipelago of the South Sandwich Islands . Together with the neighboring islands of Leskov and Visokoi, it forms the archipelago of the Traversay Islands .

geography

The island, which measures 4.4 km from north to south and 3.8 km from east to west, is the northernmost of the Traversay Islands and thus of the entire South Sandwich Islands. Even further north is the submarine volcano Protector Shoal , but its summit remains 27 meters below the surface of the water. The diameter of Zavodovski is about five kilometers on the diagonal. The continuously smoking stratovolcano Mount Curry (circumference 14.5 km, height 551  m ) dominates the western part of the island, while the eastern part is a deep lava field. A confirmed eruption of the volcano occurred in 1819; further eruptions are suspected for the years 1823, 1830, 1908, the 1970s and 1980s. In 2012, a plume of smoke was observed over the volcano on satellite photos from NASA , indicating renewed activity. In March 2016 the volcano erupted again. Due to the prevailing wind conditions, almost half of the island was covered with ash. As the resident chinstrap penguins at that time in the molt were, they could not leave the island. Two scientific expeditions planned for the end of 2016 should study the effects.

Zavodovski is home to one of the world's largest populations of chinstrap penguins ( Pygoscelis antarcticus ) with an estimated 600,000 breeding pairs. The island has been open to tourism since 1982. There is an automatic weather station maintained by the South African National Antarctic Program (SANAP).

history

It was discovered and named in 1819 by the German-Baltic Antarctic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen . Bellingshausen named the island after Lieutenant Iwan Iwanowitsch Sawadowski (1780-1837), who was the deputy commander of his ship Vostok .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthew R. Patrick, John L. Smellie, Synthesis A spaceborne inventory of volcanic activity in Antarctica and southern oceans, 2000-10 . In: Antarctic Science . tape 25 , no. 4 , August 2013, ISSN  0954-1020 , South Sandwich Islands: Mount Curry (Zavovdovski Island), p. 484 , doi : 10.1017 / S0954102013000436 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c Penguin colonies at risk from erupting volcano. British Antarctic Survey press release , July 6, 2016, accessed December 20, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Jason Major: Satellite Spies Smoking, Hot Sandwich: Big Pic. In: Seeker.com. Discovery Communications , May 2, 2012, accessed December 20, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Heather J. Lynch, Richard White, Ron Naveen, Andy Black, Marcia S. Meixler: In stark contrast to widespread declines along the Scotia Arc, a survey of the South Sandwich Islands finds a robust seabird community . In: Polar Biology . tape 39 , no. 9 , September 1, 2016, ISSN  0722-4060 , p. 1615-1625 , doi : 10.1007 / s00300-015-1886-6 ( springer.com [accessed May 29, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Worldwide list of weather stations: No. 889810 ( memento from June 24, 2016 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on December 20, 2016 (English).
  6. ↑ SANAP Annual Review 2000–01 ( Memento of June 18, 2002 in the Internet Archive ). Publication of the South African Ministry of the Environment, accessed on December 20, 2016 (English).
  7. ^ Antarctica Detail - Zavodovski Island. In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey , accessed December 20, 2016 .