The Beethoven Peninsula is a deeply indented, ice-covered peninsula, long in a northeast–southwest direction and wide at its broadest part, forming the southwest part of

Alexander Island Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarcti ...

, which lies off the southwestern portion of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

. The south side of the peninsula is supported by the

Bach Ice Shelf The Bach Ice Shelf () is an ice shelf which is irregular in shape and in extent, occupying an embayment in the south part of Alexander Island entered between Berlioz Point and Rossini Point. The ice shelf supports the south face of the Beetho ...

whilst the north side of the peninsula is supported by the

Wilkins Ice Shelf Wilkins or Wilkin is a name variant of William, and may refer to: People Given name: Wilkin * Wilkin Castillo (born 1984), Dominican baseball catcher * Wilkin Mota (born 1981), Indian cricketer * Wilkin Ramírez (born 1985), Dominican baseball out ...

. The Mendelssohn Inlet, the Brahms Inlet and the

Verdi Inlet Verdi Inlet () is an ice-filled inlet lying between Pesce Peninsula and Harris Peninsula, on the north side of the Beethoven Peninsula, situated in the southwest portion of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The inlet was observed from the air and fir ...

apparently intrude into it. The Bach Ice Shelf, Rossini Point and Berlioz Point are some distance away, on the Ronne Entrance from the

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 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. Beethoven Peninsula is one of the eight peninsulas of Alexander Island. The peninsula was first seen and photographed from the air in 1940 by the

US Antarctic Service The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has a presence in the ...

, which compiled the first rough map of southwest Alexander Island. It was resighted and photographed from the air by the 1947–48

Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition The Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) was an expedition from 1947–1948 which researched the area surrounding the head of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Background Finn Ronne led the RARE which was the final privately sponsored exp ...

(RARE), and remapped from RARE photos by Derek J.H. Searle of the

Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey The Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition (FIDASE) was an aerial survey of the Falkland Islands Dependencies The Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement from 1843 until 1985 for administering the v ...

in 1960. It 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 ...

after

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music.

References

* ''National Geographic Atlas of the World'', 7th Edition. * Peninsulas of Alexander Island Peninsula Beethoven {{AlexanderIsland-geo-stub

See also

Further reading

Further reading

References