Aspland Island is a small
island
An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
west of
Gibbs Island in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...
of
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. ...
. The name dates back to at least 1821.
Moonlight Point () is the northwest point of Aspland Island. It was so named by a Joint Services Expedition to the Elephant Island Group (JSEEIG) party canoeing from
O'Brien Island
O'Brien Island is a small rocky island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It lies south-west of Aspland Island and rises to 540 m. A strong marine channel, named Tasman Rip, runs between O'Brien Island and Eadie Island.
The ...
to Aspland Island on January 3, 1977, because the point appeared silhouetted against a full moon. The name was approved 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 ...
in 1980.
Birds
The island forms part of the Aspland Island and
Eadie Island
Eadie Island is an island long which lies between Aspland Island and O'Brien Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. A strong marine channel, named Tasman Rip, runs between Eadie Island and O'Brien Island.
The island was first c ...
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 ...
, identified as such by
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 both islands support large
colonies
A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...
of
chinstrap penguin
The chinstrap penguin (''Pygoscelis antarcticus'') is a species of penguin that inhabits a variety of islands and shores in the Southern Pacific and the Antarctic Oceans. Its name stems from the narrow black band under its head, which makes it a ...
s and
southern fulmar
The southern fulmar (''Fulmarus glacialoides'') is a seabird of the Southern Hemisphere. Along with the northern fulmar, ''F. glacialis'', it belongs to the fulmar genus ''Fulmarus'' in the family Procellariidae, the true petrels. It is also kn ...
s.
See also
*
List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
This is a list of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands.
* Antarctic islands are, in the strict sense, the islands around mainland Antarctica, situated on the Antarctic Plate, and south of the Antarctic Convergence. According to the terms of the A ...
References
Islands of the South Shetland Islands
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Penguin colonies
Seabird colonies
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