Coulman Island () is an island long and wide, lying southeast of

Cape Jones Daniell Peninsula () is the large peninsula between Cape Daniell and Cape Jones on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is an elongated basalt dome similar to Adare Peninsula and Hallett Peninsula and rises to . It is partly separated from ...

, Victoria Land, Antarctica, in the western

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 ...

. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir

James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of both the northern and southern polar regions. In the Arctic, he participated in two expeditions led by his uncle, Sir John Ross, John ...

who named it for his father-in-law, Thomas Coulman.

Geology

The island is composed of several overlapping

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava ...

es that form part of the Hallett Volcanic Province of the

McMurdo Volcanic Group The McMurdo Volcanic Group is a large group of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the western Ross Sea and central Transantarctic Mountains areas of Antarctica. It is one of the largest provinces of alkaline volcanism in the world, having formed as a resu ...

. A wide and deep

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

called the Hawkes Heights can be found on the south end of the island.

Important Bird Area (IBA)

The island is currently recognized as an important bird area because it holds a huge super-colony of

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...

s and is the largest colony of this species in the world. However, scientists speculate that this colony could hold more birds than what they have estimated. More than 26,000 chicks have been counted during the 2018-2019 breeding season indicating that the number of adults ranged from 30,000 to 35,000 breeding pairs. The sheer numbers of penguins on the island had also led scientists to think that there have been potentially larger emperor penguin super-colonies that may have existed in the past before being wiped out during the last ice age.

Geography

Coulman Island is in the Ross Sea to the southeast of

Daniell Peninsula Daniell Peninsula () is the large peninsula between Cape Daniell and Cape Jones on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is an elongated basalt dome similar to Adare Peninsula and Hallett Peninsula and rises to . It is partly separated from ...

, and east of the ice tongues of

Borchgrevink Glacier Borchgrevink Glacier () is a large glacier in the Victory Mountains, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It drains south between Malta Plateau and Daniell Peninsula, and thence projects into Glacier Strait (Antarctica), Glacier Strait, Ross Sea, as a floa ...

and

Mariner Glacier The Mariner Glacier () is a major glacier over long, descending southeast from the plateau of Victoria Land, Antarctica, between Mountaineer Range and Malta Plateau, and terminating at Lady Newnes Bay, Ross Sea, where it forms the floating Ma ...

, which extend into Lady Newnes Bay to the southwest of the island. Glacier Strait separates the island from the mainland. Hawkes Heights dominate the south of the island. Capes on the east side are, from north to south, Cape Wadworth, Cape Main and Cape Anne.

Features

Hawkes Heights

. The heights are an ice-filled crater rising to high that dominates the south part of Coulman Island and marks the island's summita. Named by NZGSAE, 1958-59, for Captain William M. Hawkes, United States Navy, who took a leading part in early air operations from Williams Field near McMurdo Station, including long range photo reconnaissance and supply flights, and the first air landing at the South Pole. He was commander of one of the two planes which made the historic first flight from Christchurch to McMurdo Sound on Dec. 17, 1955. His air photos proved of great value to two NZGSAE parties to this part of Victoria Land.

Cape Wadworth

. The northern extremity of Coulman Island. Discovered Jan. 17, 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross who named it in compliment to his wife's uncle, Robert John Coulman, Esq., of Wadworth Hall, Doncaster.

Cape Main

. A small cape situated north of Cape Anne, along the east side of Coulman Island. Named by NZ-APC in 1966 for Brian Main, scientific technician at Hallett Station, 1962-63.

Cape Anne

. Cape which marks the southeast extremity of Coulman Island. Discovered in January 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross and named by him for his wife.

Glacier Strait

. A north-south trending strait off the coast of Victoria Land in the western Ross Sea, situated between Coulman Island on the east and Cape Jones, Borchgrevink Glacier Tongue and Mariner Glacier Tongue on the west. The name honors the USS ''Glacier'' which in February 1965 was the first vessel to navigate the strait, and is also in conjunction with the significant presence of the two large glacier tongues. The name was proposed by M.R.J. Ford, New Zealand surveyor who was aboard the Glacier in February 1965.

References

Sources

* * {{Authority control Volcanoes of Victoria Land Islands of Victoria Land Miocene shield volcanoes Calderas of Antarctica Borchgrevink Coast Volcanic islands Shield volcanoes of Antarctica