The Lassiter Coast is the portion of the east coast 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. ...

that extends from

Cape Mackintosh Kemp Peninsula () is an irregular ice-covered peninsula long in a north–south direction and wide. The peninsula rises gently to and projects east between the heads of Mason Inlet and Mossman Inlet, on the east coast of Palmer Land, Antarctic ...

Cape Adams Gardner Inlet () is a large, ice-filled inlet at the southwest side of Bowman Peninsula, on the east coast of Palmer Land, Antarctica. Location Gardner inlet is between the Lassiter Coast and the Orville Coast of the Weddell Sea to the east. ...

. The northern portion of this coast was discovered and photographed from the air by the

United States 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 ...

in 1940. During 1947 the entire extent of the coast was photographed from the air by the

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) under

Finn Ronne Finn Ronne (December 20, 1899 – January 12, 1980) was a Norwegian-born U.S. citizen and Antarctic explorer. Background Finn Ronne was born in Horten, in Vestfold county, Norway. His father, Martin Rønne (1861–1932), was a polar explorer ...

, who in conjunction with 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 ...

charted it from the ground. The name was applied by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

for Captain James W. Lassiter of the then

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

, who as chief pilot was instrumental in the overall success of the RARE aerial exploratory program. Lassiter was the pilot not only on the flight southwest from Cape Adams, on which geographic discovery was extended to (the Mount Hassage area), but also on the flight southeast to about , on which the seaward edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf and the west and central edge of the

Filchner Ice Shelf Wilhelm Filchner (13 September 1877 – 7 May 1957) was a German army officer, scientist and explorer. He conducted several surveys and scientific investigations in China, Tibet and surrounding regions, and led the Second German Antarctic Expediti ...

were sighted and photographed for the first time.

References

Coasts of Palmer Land Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf {{PalmerLand-geo-stub

See also

References