Thuronyi Bluff () is a prominent escarpment on the east coast of 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. ...

, which faces the

Larsen Ice Shelf The Larsen Ice Shelf is a long ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula from Cape Longing to Smith Peninsula. It is named after Captain Carl Anton Larsen, the master of the ...

and the

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha C ...

and lies immediately south of the

Antarctic Circle The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. So ...

. It is located above

Mill Inlet Mill Inlet () is an ice-filled inlet which recedes in a northwesterly direction and is some wide at its entrance between Cape Robinson and Monnier Point, along the east coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It was charted by the Falkland Islands D ...

British Antarctic Territory The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and betwee ...

at the base of the

Cole Peninsula Cole Peninsula () is a peninsula, 24 kilometers long in an east–west direction and 13 kilometers wide, lying between Cabinet Inlet and Mill Inlet on the east coast of Graham Land, just east of Thuronyi Bluff and immediately north of the Antarct ...

, between Balch Glacier and Gould Glacier; it is part of

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee ...

."Name Details, Thuronyi Bluff" ''Antarctic Gazetteer'', Australian Antarctic Data Centre
online
/ref> The bluff was first observed in aerial photographs taken on December 22, 1947, during the

Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition The Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) was an expedition from 1947–1948 which researched the area surrounding the head of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Background Finn Ronne led the RARE which was the final privately sponsored exp ...

.Tupek, Karen Ronne (2006) "Captain Finn Ronne: Norwegian-American Antarctic Explorer" website of Ronne Family Antarctic Explorers
online
/ref> Just north of Thuronyi Bluff, the

once extended a hundred kilometers (or more) from land before any open sea would be encountered. However, part of the shelf larger than the state of Rhode Island, known as "Larsen B", disintegrated over a three-week period in 2002, which followed a similar disintegration of the equivalently sized "Larsen A" region in 1995.Hulbe, Christina (2002) "Larsen Ice Shelf 2002, warmest summer on record leads to disintegration" website of Portland State University
online
/ref> It is anticipated that "Larsen C", which lies at the foot of Thuronyi Bluff, may suffer a similar fate sometime in the next decade,Rignot, Eric (2007) "Mass Balance and Ice Dynamics of Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers for IPY2007-2008" Proposal #359, International Polar Year Expression of Intent
online
/ref> after which open seawater will likely come near to Thuronyi Bluff during the austral summertime.

Namesake

This escarpment is named for Géza T. Thuronyi (1919-2007), an Antarctic scholar at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, whose annotated bibliographies of the meteorological and geoastrophysical characteristics of Earth's cold regions did much to make often obscure publications more available to both the scientific community and the public.Holley, Joe (2008) "Geza T. Thuronyi, 88; Bibliographer for Library of Congress" ''Washington Post'' 1/4/08, p. B07
online
/ref> The name was applied 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 ...

upon Mr. Thuronyi's retirement in 1990, in recognition of his contributions in unveiling the nature of the Antarctic continent.US-ACAN "Policy Covering Antarctic Names" website of US Geological Survey
online
/ref>

References

{{reflist Cliffs of Graham Land Foyn Coast