Scripps Heights () is a rugged heights which are largely ice-covered, surmounting the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

between Casey Glacier and Lurabee Glacier on the east coast of

Palmer Land Palmer Land () is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica that lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the Advisory Committee on Antarctic ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

. Deeply scarred by glaciers, the heights terminate on the east in

Cape Walcott Cape Walcott is a bold, ice-covered headland rising to 625 m on the north side of the entrance to Bertius Inlet, and forming the seaward extremity of Scripps Heights on the east coast of Palmer Land. Discovered by Sir Hubert Wilkins in 1928 and n ...

. Discovered by

Sir Hubert Wilkins Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (31 October 188830 November 1958), commonly referred to as Captain Wilkins, was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer. He was awarded the Military Cross af ...

in his pioneer flight on December 20, 1928. Thinking the feature to be a large

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

lying between two great transverse channels which completely severed

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín 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 Antarctic ...

, he named it Scripps Island for William Scripps of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. Correlation of aerial photographs taken by

Lincoln Ellsworth Lincoln Ellsworth (May 12, 1880 – May 26, 1951) was a polar explorer from the United States and a major benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History. Biography Lincoln Ellsworth was born on May 12, 1880, to James Ellsworth and Eva ...

in 1935 and preliminary reports of the findings of the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) under Rymill, 1934–37, led W.L.G. Joerg to interpret this to be a peninsula. In published reports, members of the BGLE have concurred in this interpretation which was also borne out by the results of subsequent flights and a sledge trip from

East Base East Base on Stonington Island is the oldest American research station in Antarctica, having been commissioned by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939. The station was built as part of two US wintering expeditions – United States Antarctic Service ...

by members of 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 presence in the A ...

(USAS) in 1940.

References

Mountains of Palmer Land {{PalmerLand-geo-stub

See also

References