Smyley Island is an
Antarctic
The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole.
The Antar ...
island lying off the
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin 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 Antarctica.
...
. The island is long and from wide, and lies about north of
Case Island. It connects to the
Stange Ice Shelf and is separated from
Alexander Island
Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarcti ...
by the
Ronne Entrance. Smyley Island is one of the 27 islands 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 N ...
, Antarctica.
Discovery and naming
In 1939–1941 Smyley Island was first identified as a peninsula of mainland
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. ...
by 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 a presence in the ...
and was named ''Cape Smyley''. In 1968 it was identified as an island on a
U.S. Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
map.
[ The island is named after Captain William H. Smyley, the American master of the sealing vessel ''Ohio'' during 1841–42.][
]
Important Bird Area
A 497 ha site on fast ice
Fast ice (also called ''land-fast ice'', ''landfast ice'', and ''shore-fast ice'') is sea ice or lake ice that is "fastened" to the coastline, to the sea floor along shoals, or to grounded icebergs.Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. B ...
near Scorseby Head, on the northern shore of the island, has been designated an Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(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 a breeding colony of some 6,000 emperor penguin
The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...
s, based on 2009 satellite imagery.
See also
* 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 ...
* 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
* Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council, International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including th ...
* 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 ...
References
External links
British Antarctic Survey diary
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Penguin colonies
Islands of Palmer Land
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