Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated 245 kilometres north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, 1,253 kilometres west-southwest of South Georgia, 935 kilometres south of the Falkland Islands, and 885 kilometres southeast of Cape Horn. It is within the Antarctic claims of Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom.
Operation Tabarin was the code name for a secret British expedition to the Antarctic during World War Two, operational 1943–46. Conducted by the Admiralty on behalf of the Colonial Office, its primary objective was to strengthen British claims to sovereignty of the British territory of the Falkland Islands Dependencies (FID), to which Argentina and Chile had made counter claims since the outbreak of war. This was done by establishing permanently occupied bases, carrying out administrative activities such as postal services and undertaking scientific research. The meteorological observations made aided Allied shipping in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Clarence Island is the easternmost island in the South Shetland Islands, off the coast of Antarctica. It is claimed by Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica, by Britain as part of the British Antarctic Territory, and by Chile as part of the Chilean Antarctic Territory. The name dates back to at least 1820 and is now established in international usage, except for Russia, where it has been known as Shishkova Island since its discovery by the First Russian Antarctic Expedition in 1821.
Brabant Island is the second largest island of the Palmer Archipelago within the British Antarctic Territory, lying between Anvers Island and Liège Island. Brabant Island is 59 km (37 mi) long north-south, 30 km (19 mi) wide, and rises to 2,520 m (8,268 ft) in Mount Parry. The interior of the island is occupied by two mountain ranges, Solvay Mountains in its southern part and Stribog Mountains in its central and northern parts.
Adelaide Island is a large, mainly ice-covered island, 139 kilometres (75 nmi) long and 37 kilometres (20 nmi) wide, lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Ginger Islands lie off the southern end. Mount Bodys is the easternmost mountain on Adelaide Island, rising to over 1,220 m. The island lies within the Argentine, British and Chilean Antarctic claims.
Renaud Island is an ice-covered island in the Biscoe Islands of Antarctica, 40 km (25 mi) long and from 6.4 to 16.1 km wide, lying between the Pitt Islands and Rabot Island. It is separated from the Pitt Islands to the northeast by Mraka Sound, and from Lavoisier Island to the southwest by Pendleton Strait.
Stonington Island is a rocky island lying 1.8 km (1.1 mi) northeast of Neny Island in the eastern part of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It is 0.75 km (0.47 mi) long from north-west to south-east and 0.37 km (0.23 mi) wide, yielding an area of 20 ha. It was formerly connected by a drifted snow slope to Northeast Glacier on the mainland. Highest elevation is Anemometer Hill which rises to 25 m (82 ft).
The Dailey Islands are a group of small volcanic islands lying off the coast of Victoria Land, 9 kilometres (5 nmi) northeast of Cape Chocolate, in the northern part of the ice shelf bordering McMurdo Sound. They were discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott, and named for Fred E. Dailey, the expedition carpenter.
The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica.
Multiple governments have set up permanent research stations in Antarctica and these bases are widely distributed. Unlike the drifting ice stations set up in the Arctic, the current research stations of the Antarctic are constructed either on rocks or on ice that are fixed in place.
James William Slessor Marr was a Scottish marine biologist and polar explorer. He was leader of the World War 2 British Antarctic Expedition Operation Tabarin during its first year, 1943–1945.
Snow Hill Island is an almost completely snowcapped island, 33 km (21 mi) long and 12 km (7.5 mi) wide, lying off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island to the north-east by Admiralty Sound and from Seymour Island to the north by Picnic Passage. It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to Chile, Argentina and South America than any other part of the Antarctic continent.
Sir James Clark Ross was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle John Ross, and four led by William Edward Parry, and, in particular, for his own Antarctic expedition from 1839 to 1843.
Shambles Glacier is a steep glacier 4 miles (6 km) long and 6 miles (10 km) wide, with very prominent hummocks and crevasses, flowing east between Mount Bouvier and Mount Mangin into Stonehouse Bay on the east side of Adelaide Island. It is the island's largest glacier, and provides an eastern outlet from the giant Fuchs Ice Piedmont which covers the entire western two-thirds of the island. In doing so, Shambles Glacier provides the largest 'gap' in Adelaide Island's north–south running mountain chain.
Detaille Island is a small island off the northern end of the Arrowsmith Peninsula in Graham Land, Antarctica. From 1956 to 1959 it was home to "Base W" of the British Antarctic Survey and closed after the end of the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Detaille was a key monitoring sites during the IGY. It is now often visited by Antarctic cruise ships but is otherwise unoccupied.
Canopus Islands is a group of small islands just north of the Klung Islands in the eastern part of Holme Bay, Mac. Robertson Land. They were mapped by Norwegian cartographers from air photos taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition, 1936–37, and named by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions after the star Canopus.
The Canopus Rocks are two small, low rocks lying 2 kilometres (1 nmi) northwest of Canopus Island, 2 kilometres (1 nmi) east of Nella Rock and the Sawert Rocks, and 1.9 kilometres (1 nmi) southeast of Hansen Rocks in the eastern part of Holme Bay, Mac. Robertson Land. They were plotted from photos taken from Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions aircraft in 1958, and named by the Antarctic Names Committee of Australia after Canopus Island.
The Hansen Rocks are a group of five small islands lying just north of Holme Bay and the coast of Mac. Robertson Land, Antarctica, about 2 kilometres (1 nmi) northeast of the Sawert Rocks and Nella Rock, and about 2 kilometres (1 nmi) northwest of the Canopus Rocks. They were plotted from Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) air photographs, and were named by the Antarctic Names Committee of Australia for Captain B.T. Hansen, master of the Nella Dan for ANARE relief voyages in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972.
Smith Rocks is a group of rocks lying 1 kilometre (0.5 nmi) northeast of Canopus Islands, 1 kilometre (0.5 nmi) west of Kitney Island, 3.7 kilometres (2 nmi) southwest of Wiltshire Rocks, and 5.6 kilometres (3 nmi) northwest of Paterson Islands, in the east part of Holme Bay, Mac. Robertson Land. Mapped by Norwegian cartographers from air photos taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition, 1936–37, and named Spjotoyholmane. Renamed by Antarctic Names Committee of Australia (ANCA) for Captain V. Smith, RAASC, DUKW driver who took part in ANARE changeover operations at Davis and Mawson stations in 1958-59 and 1959–60.
International competition extended to the continent of Antarctica during the World War II era, though the region saw no combat. During the prelude to war, Nazi Germany organised the 1938 Third German Antarctic Expedition to preempt Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land. The expedition served as the basis for a new German claim, called New Swabia. A year later, the United States Antarctic Service Expedition established two bases, which operated for two years before being abandoned. Responding to these encroachments, and taking advantage of Europe's wartime turmoil, the nearby nations of Chile and Argentina made their own claims. In 1940 Chile proclaimed the Chilean Antarctic Territory in areas already claimed by Britain, while Argentina proclaimed Argentine Antarctica in 1943 in an overlapping area.
