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, Antarctic Peninsula from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. George VI Ice Shelf entirely fills George VI Sound and connects Alexander Island to Palmer Land. The island partly surrounds Wilkins Sound, which lies to its west. Alexander Island is about 390 kilometres (240 mi) long in a north-south direction, 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide in the north, and 240 kilometres (150 mi) wide in the south. Alexander Island is the second largest uninhabited island in the world, after Devon Island.
Thurston Island is an ice-covered, glacially dissected island, 215 km (134 mi) long, 90 km (56 mi) wide and 15,700 km2 (6,062 sq mi) in area, lying a short way off the northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. It is the third largest island of Antarctica, after Alexander Island and Berkner Island.
Drygalski Glacier is a broad glacier, 18 nautical miles long and 15 miles (24 km) wide at its head, which flows from Herbert Plateau southeast between Ruth Ridge and Kyustendil Ridge, and enters Solari Bay immediately north of Sentinel Nunatak on Nordenskjöld Coast, the east coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It was discovered in 1902 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, under Otto Nordenskiöld, and named "Drygalski Bay" after Professor Erich von Drygalski. The feature was determined to be a glacier by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1947.
Shaw Nunatak is a nunatak rising to 500 m in Nichols Snowfield, northern Alexander Island, Antarctica. It is situated 5.3 km north-northeast of Rachenitsa Nunatak, 4.23 km east-southeast of Tipits Knoll and 7 km southeast of Mount Kliment Ohridski in Sofia University Mountains, 7.5 km southwest of Lizard Nunatak and 8.1 km northwest of Tegra Nunatak. The feature was photographed from the air by Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947–48, and mapped from these photographs by D. Searle of Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, 1960. The nunatak was named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1977 after Colin Shaw (1944–78), British Antarctic Survey surveyor who worked in Alexander Island, from 1975 to 1976.
The Enceladus Nunataks are a group of about eight nunataks scattered over a wide area at the head of the drainage basin of Saturn Glacier, in southern Alexander Island, Antarctica. They were mapped from trimetrogon air photography taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–48, and from survey by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, 1948–50. The group was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee from association with Saturn Glacier, Enceladus being one of the moons of the planet Saturn.
Vivaldi Glacier is a glacier lying between the Colbert Mountains and the Lully Foothills, flowing south from Purcell Snowfield into the head of Schubert Inlet on the west coast of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The feature appears to be first shown on maps of the United States Antarctic Service (USAS) which photographed Alexander Island from the air in 1940. It was mapped from air photos obtained by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947–48, by Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1960. Named "Vivaldi Gap" by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1961, after Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741), Venetian composer. The name was amended to Vivaldi Glacier following review of Landsat program imagery, 1979, displaying flow lines in the feature.
Knott Nunatak is a nunatak 1 nautical mile (2 km) northwest of the northern extremity of the LeMay Range, in the west-central portion of Alexander Island, Antarctica. It was photographed from the air by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–48, and mapped from these photographs by D. Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, 1960. The nunatak was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1977 for Christopher E. Knott, British Antarctic Survey general assistant at Stonington Island, 1974–75, and Adelaide Island, 1975–76, who participated in a plane table survey of this area.
The Du Toit Nunataks are a group of nunataks between Cornwall Glacier and Glen Glacier, marking the western end of the Read Mountains, Shackleton Range. They were photographed from the air by the U.S. Navy, 1967, and surveyed by the British Antarctic Survey, 1968–71. In association with the names of geologists grouped in this area, they were named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Alexander Logie du Toit, a South African geologist.
The Elgar Uplands are uplands rising to 1,900 metres (6,200 ft), between Tufts Pass to the north and Sullivan Glacier to the south, in the northern part of Alexander Island, Antarctica. They were first photographed from the air and roughly mapped by the British Graham Land Expedition in 1937. They were remapped from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–48, by D. Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1960, and from U.S. Landsat imagery of February, 1975. They were named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Sir Edward Elgar, the English composer (1857-1934).
Pearson Spur is a spur extending southeast from Elgar Uplands toward the head of Sibelius Glacier, situated in the northern portion of Alexander Island, Antarctica. Photographed from the air by Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) in 1947, roughly mapped from air photographs by Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1959, and surveyed by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), 1973-77. Named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1980 after Martin Robert Pearson, BAS glaciologist, 1970–73, who worked on Alexander Island, in years 1971 and 1972.
Figaro Nunatak is an isolated nunatak rising to about 200 metres (660 ft) near the east end of Mozart Ice Piedmont, in the northern part of Alexander Island, Antarctica. It was mapped from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–48, by D. Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1960, and was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee from association with the Mozart Ice Piedmont after Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro, composed in 1786.
The Finlandia Foothills are a rock massif, 10 nautical miles (19 km) long and 3 nautical miles (6 km) wide, rising to about 1,130 metres (3,700 ft) at the west side of Sibelius Glacier, situated in northern Alexander Island, Antarctica. The massif lies immediately south of the Geode Nunataks, north of the Handel Ice Piedmont and west of Witches Cauldron. They were photographed from the air by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–48, and mapped from these photographs by D. Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, 1960. In association with the glacier they were named after the symphonic poem Finlandia by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957).
The Geode Nunataks are a group of small nunataks on the west side of Sibelius Glacier, immediately north of the northern extremity of the Finlandia Foothills, in northeast Alexander Island, Antarctica. They were so named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1977; the nunataks are composed of lava flows with abundant geodes.
Metzgar Nunatak is a nunatak rising to about 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) 3 nautical miles (6 km) south of Tollefson Nunatak in the Yee Nunataks, Palmer Land, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy aerial photographs, 1961–68, and from Landsat imagery taken 1973–74. It was named in 1987 by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after USGS cartographer John M. Metzgar, Jr., a member of the USGS satellite surveying team at South Pole Station, winter party 1978.
Long Glacier is a glacier about 8 nautical miles long in the southeastern part of Thurston Island, Antarctica. It flows south to the Abbot Ice Shelf, 14 nautical miles (26 km) west of Harrison Nunatak. The glacier was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–66, and was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Fred A. Long, Jr., an aviation machinist of U.S. Navy Squadron VX-6, who wintered at Little America V in 1957 and was in Antarctica in the 1960–61 and 1962–63 seasons.
Lizard Nunatak is a nunatak rising to about 800 metres (2,600 ft) situated within the Nichols Snowfield, in the northern portion of Alexander Island, Antarctica. It is situated 12 km east by north of Mount Kliment Ohridski and 9 km south-southeast of the summit of Landers Peaks in Sofia University Mountains, and 6.4 km southwest of Serpent Nunatak and 9.38 km north by west of Tegra Nunatak in Rouen Mountains. The feature was so named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1977 from its shape and in association with Serpent Nunatak lying to the northeast.
Stephenson Nunatak is a prominent, pyramid-shaped rock nunatak, rising to about 640 m, which rises 300 m above the surrounding ice at the northwest side of Kirwan Inlet in the southeast part of Alexander Island, Antarctica. Discovered and roughly surveyed in 1940-41 by Ronne and Eklund of the United States Antarctic Service. Resurveyed in 1949 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee for Alfred Stephenson, surveyor with the British Graham Land Expedition, who led a sledge party south into George VI Sound to about 72S in 1936. There happens to be another landform on Alexander Island which is named after Alfred Stephenson, that being Mount Stephenson, the highest point of Alexander Island rising to 2,987 m.
Serpent Nunatak is a nunatak which is seen in the shape of a reverse letter S, rising to about 750 m just west of Tufts Pass lying within the Nichols Snowfield, in the northern portion of Alexander Island, Antarctica. It is situated 6.4 km northeast of Lizard Nunatak and 6.23 km south of Lesnovo Hill. The feature was descriptively named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1977 because of the nunataks shape, the reverse letter S supposedly resembles a Serpent.
Titan Nunatak is a broad, rather flat-topped nunatak, rising to about 460 m, standing between Coal Nunatak and Tethys Nunataks in the southeast corner of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The nunatak was first sighted and photographed from the air by Lincoln Ellsworth on November 23, 1935, and mapped from photos obtained on that flight by W.L.G. Joerg. Observed from the northwest, only the summit protrudes above the coastal ice, and it was uncertain whether this was a Peak on Alexander Island or an island in George VI Sound. Its true nature was determined by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey who surveyed this nunatak in 1949. Named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee for its association with nearby Saturn Glacier, Titan being one of the satellites of the planet Saturn, the sixth planet of the Solar System.
