Shirley Island is a rocky island lying north-west of the western end of the
Bailey Peninsula, in 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 ...
of the
Budd Coast,
Wilkes Land,
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. ...
.
[Shirley Island - Geonames](_blank)
/ref> It is mostly ice-free with undulating, rocky terrain. It was first mapped from aerial photos taken by the USN's 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. It was named by the US-ACAN for Q. Shirley, chief photographer's mate on Operation Highjump photographic flights in coastal areas between
14° and 164° E longitude. Kirkby Shoal is a small shoal
In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...
area with depths of less than extending about westwards and south-south-west, about from the summit of Shirley Island. Launch Channel is the narrow body of water between Bailey Peninsula and the island; with the relatively shallow soundings in the channel restricting its use to smaller craft and suggesting the name.
Important Bird Area
A 414 ha site comprising both Shirley Island and neighbouring Beall Island, as well as the intervening marine area, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...
because it supports breeding colonies of about 14,000 pairs of Adélie penguins, based on 2011 satellite imagery. Other birds breeding in the IBA include snow petrel
The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that have been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which has the most s ...
s, Wilson's storm petrels and south polar skuas.[ ]
See also
* Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
* List of Antarctic and Subantarctic islands
This is a list of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands.
* Antarctic islands are, in the strict sense, the islands around mainland Antarctica, situated on the Antarctic Plate, and south of the Antarctic Convergence. According to the terms of the A ...
* List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
* Schulz Point
* 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
References
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Seabird colonies
Penguin colonies
Windmill Islands
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