Lemaire Channel
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Lemaire Channel is a
strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...
off
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. ...
, between
Kyiv Peninsula Kyiv Peninsula (, ) is the predominantly ice-covered, oval shaped peninsula projecting 35 km in northwest direction from the west side of Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula. It is bounded by Flandres Bay to the northeast and Beascochea Bay ...
in the mainland's
Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee ...
and
Booth Island Booth Island (or Wandel Island; ) is a Y-shaped island, long and rising to in the northeast part of the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica. Location Booth Island is off the east end of the Graham Coast on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsul ...
. Nicknamed "Kodak Gap" by some, it is one of the top
tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...
destinations in Antarctica; steep cliffs hem in the
iceberg An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...
-filled passage, which is long and just wide at its narrowest point. It was first seen by the German expedition of 1873-74, but not traversed until December 1898, when the ''
Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...
'' of the
Belgian Antarctic Expedition The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV ''Belgica'', it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the fir ...
passed through. Expedition leader
Adrien de Gerlache Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99. Early years Born in Hasselt in eastern Belgium as t ...
named it for
Charles Lemaire Charles LeMaire (April 22, 1897 – June 8, 1985) was an American costume designer. He was born in Chicago. LeMaire's early career was as a vaudeville performer, but he became a costume designer for such Broadway productions as ''Ziegfeld Fol ...
(1863-1925), a Belgian explorer of the Congo. The channel has since become a standard part of the itinerary for cruising in Antarctica; not only is it scenic, but the protected waters are usually as still as a lake, a rare occurrence in the storm-wracked southern seas, and the north-south traverse delivers vessels close to
Petermann Island Petermann Island () is an island long, lying southwest of Hovgaard Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica. Location Petermann Island is off the Graham Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is in the Wilhelm Archipelago, southwest of ...
for landings. The principal difficulty is that icebergs may fill the channel, especially in early season, obliging a ship to backtrack and go around the outside of Booth Island to reach Petermann. File:Lemaire Channel entry.jpg, In the north entry of Lemaire Channel looking south, from the deck of the ''Hanseatic''. Image:Lemaire Channel Antarctica.jpg, Glaciers and cliffs reflected in still waters at the south end of the channel. File:Cruise ship in Lemaire Channel.jpg, Russian cruise ship '' Akademik Sergey Vavilov'' in the Lemaire Channel File:Unas_tits_2014.jpg, Una Peaks File:Icebergs_in_the_Lemaire_Channel,_Antarctica.jpg, Icebergs in the channel


Features

Features of the southeast coast of the channel include, from north to south,
False Cape Renard False Cape Renard () is a rocky cape southwest of Cape Renard, on the northwest coast of Kyiv Peninsula, Graham Land. It was charted by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Gerlache, 1897–99. This feature and Cape Renard together were cal ...
,
Humphries Heights The Humphries Heights () are a series of elevations extending southwest from False Cape Renard to Deloncle Bay, on the northwest coast of Kyiv Peninsula, Graham Land, Antarctica. They were charted by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Gerlache, ...
, Loubat Point,
Deloncle Bay Deloncle Bay () is a bay, 1.5 nautical miles (3 km) long, indenting the northwest coast of Kyiv Peninsula in Graham Land between Loubat Point and Glandaz Point, and opening on Lemaire Channel opposite Booth Island. It was discovered by ...
, Hotine Glacier, Glandaz Point, Una Peaks, Mount Cloos, Cape Cloos, Leay Glacier,
Mount Scott (Antarctica) Mount Scott is a horseshoe-shaped massif on Kyiv Peninsula, the west coast of Graham Land, which is open to the southwest with its convex side fronting on Girard Bay and its northwestern side on Lemaire Channel. Discovered by the Belgian Ant ...
, Duseberg Buttress.


See also

* Nimrod Passage * Una Peaks


References


SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
{{coord, 65.133, S, 64.000, W, display=title, source:dewiki Straits of Antarctica Graham Coast Tourism sites in Antarctica