
Riksa Islands (, ‘Ostrovi Riksa’ \'os-trovi 'ri-ksa\) are three adjacent ice-free islands in the
Aitcho group on the west side of
English Strait
English Strait is the 10.5-mile (17-km) long and 1.2-mile (2-km) wide strait lying between Greenwich Island and Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Trending southeast-northwest, and entered between Santa Cruz Point and Edwa ...
in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...
,
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. ...
. The islands are situated west of
Bilyana Island
Bilyana Island (, ) is an ice-free island in the Aitcho group on the west side of English Strait in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Extending , surface area . The area was visited by early 19th century sealers.
The island's name de ...
, northeast of
Emeline Island
Emeline Island is a conspicuous rocky island rising to over in the Aitcho group on the west side of English Strait in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The island extends with a surface area of . The area was visited by early 19th ce ...
and east of
Holmes Rock
Holmes Rock is rising to north of Greenwich Island and west of Aitcho group in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The area was visited by early 19th century sealers.
The feature is named after Captain Jeremiah Holmes, Master of the Amer ...
. The area was visited by early 19th century
sealers Sealer may refer either to a person or ship engaged in seal hunting, or to a sealant; associated terms include:
Seal hunting
* Sealer Hill, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
* Sealers' Oven, bread oven of mud and stone built by sealers around 1800 ...
.
The group comprises the islands of ''Cricklewood'' (), ''Taunton'' () and ''Bath'' ().
Bath Island.
SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about th ...
.
Riksa Islands are named after the settlements of Kamenna (Stone) Riksa and Lower Riksa in northwestern Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. Cricklewood Island is named after the district of London where the main part of the UKHO was located until 1968. Taunton Island is named after the town of Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...
in England, where the UKHO printing works has been located since 1941 and where the remainder of the Office moved in 1968. Bath Island is named after the city of Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
in England, where sections of the UKHO were temporarily located during World War II.
Location
The islands are located at . Bulgarian mapping in 2009.
See also
* Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about th ...
* List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
* SCAR
A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrosis, fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other Organ (anatomy), organs, and biological tissue, t ...
* Territorial claims in Antarctica
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight land claim, territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observat ...
Map
* L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands. Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2010. (First edition 2009. )
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated.
* L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Smith Island. Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2017.
Notes
References
Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer.
Antarctic Place-names Commission
The Antarctic Place-names Commission was established by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute in 1994, and since 2001 has been a body affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bulgaria), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria.
The Commis ...
. (details in Bulgarian
basic data
in English)
External links
Riksa Islands.
Copernix satellite image
Islands of the South Shetland Islands
Bulgaria and the Antarctic
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