Mitchell Peninsula () is a rocky

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

, long and wide, lying between O'Brien Bay and Sparkes Bay at the east side of the

Windmill Islands The Windmill Islands are an Antarctic group of rocky islands and rocks about wide, paralleling the coast of Wilkes Land for immediately north of Vanderford Glacier along the east side of Vincennes Bay. Kirkby Shoal is a small shoal area w ...

, Antarctica. It was first mapped from aerial photographs taken by U.S. Navy

Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America (exploration b ...

in February 1947 and thought to be an island connected by a steep snow ramp to the continental ice overlying

Budd Coast Budd Coast (), part of Wilkes Land, is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between the Hatch Islands, at 109°16'E, and Cape Waldron, at 115°33'E. It was discovered in February 1840 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–42) under ...

, though the term peninsula was considered more appropriate by the

Wilkes Station Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States as one of seven U.S. stations established for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) program in Antarctica. It was taken over by Australia on ...

party of 1957. Mitchell Peninsula was named 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 Ray A. Mitchell,

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

, captain of the , a tanker of the western task group of Operation Highjump,

Task Force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

68 of 1946–47. On its southern side is Bednarz Cove, and

Drew Cove Drew Cove () is a cove indenting the west side of Mitchell Peninsula on the Budd Coast. It was first mapped from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump and Operation Windmill in 1947 and 1948, and was named by the Advisory Committee on A ...

indents the west side.

References

Peninsulas of Wilkes Land {{WilkesLand-geo-stub

See also

References