Scott Island is a small uninhabited island of volcanic origin in the
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...
,
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...
, northeast of
Cape Adare, the northeastern extremity of
Victoria Land,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
. It is long north–south, and between and wide, reaching a height of and covering an area of .
Haggits Pillar, a
stack reaching in height and measuring in diameter, yielding an area of less than , is located west of the island. The island has two small coves with beaches, the rest of the island being surrounded by high cliffs. One of the coves is on the northeastern coast and the other opposite Haggitts Pillar on the western coast of the island.
The island was discovered and landed upon on 25 December 1902 by captain
William Colbeck, commander of the
SY ''Morning'', the relief ship for
Robert Scott's
expedition. Colbeck originally planned to name the island Markham Island, after Sir
Clements Markham
Sir Clements Robert Markham (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for ...
, but later decided to name it after Scott. Haggits Pillar is named after Colbeck's mother's family name, Haggit. In 2006, a mapping expedition to the Ross Sea found the islands north of their previously determined position.
[The changing map of Antarctica](_blank)
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA ( mi, Taihoro Nukurangi), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental scien ...
, Coasts & Oceans Update, No. 17, 2007
Scott Island is part of the
Ross Dependency
The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a circular sector, sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160th meridian east, 160° east to 150th meridian west, 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60th para ...
, claimed by
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
(see
Territorial claims of Antarctica
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and st ...
).
There was an
automatic weather station
An automatic weather station (AWS) is an automated version of the traditional weather station, either to save human labour or to enable measurements from remote areas. An AWS will typically consist of a weather-proof enclosure containing the data ...
on the island from December 1987 to March 1999.
The records show an average temperature of a few °C (°F) below in summer, and down to in winter.
On 12 February 2009 Andrew Perry and Molly Kendall, crew members of the
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship
MY ''Steve Irwin'', were married on the island by captain
Paul Watson.
See also
*
Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
*
SCAR
A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a n ...
*
Territorial claims in Antarctica
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and st ...
*
List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another plan ...
*
Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
References
External links
Birds observed at Scott Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica*Gerhard Wörner and Giovanni Orsi (1990)
Volcanic observations on Scott Island in the Antarctic Ocean ''Polarforschung'', 60 (2), 82–83.
{{coord, 67, 22.7, S, 179, 54.7, W, display=title
Islands of the Ross Dependency
Uninhabited islands of New Zealand