Armstrong Reef is a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

that encompasses many ice-free

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

ic islets and rocks, extending for from the south-west end of Renaud Island, in the

Biscoe Islands Mendez-Biscoe Islands is a series of islands, of which the principal ones are Renaud Island, Renaud, Lavoisier Island, Lavoisier (named ''Serrano'' by Chile and ''Mitre'' by Argentina), Watkins Island, Watkins, Krogh Island, Krogh, Pickwick Islan ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. It was first accurately shown on an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

government chart of 1957, and was named by the

UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) an ...

for Terence Armstrong, a British

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less density, dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oceans. Much of the world' ...

specialist.

Important Bird Area

The reef has been identified as a 557 ha

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports a breeding colony of over 500 pairs of Antarctic shags.

References

Reefs of Graham Land Landforms of the Biscoe Islands Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Seabird colonies {{Biscoes-geo-stub