Green Island (Berthelot Islands)

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Green Island in 2014 Green-island-parnikoza-2014.jpg
Green Island in 2014
The island is home to a large colony of Antarctic shags Cormoran imperial - Imperial Shag.jpg
The island is home to a large colony of Antarctic shags

Green Island is one of the Berthelot Islands group, lying off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica.

The Berthelot Islands are a group of rocky islands, the largest 2 km (1 mi) long, lying 3 km (2 mi) south-west of Deliverance Point, off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. They were discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05, under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, and named by him for Marcellin Berthelot, a prominent French chemist. One of the group, Green Island, is protected as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.108 because of its relatively luxuriant vegetation and large Antarctic shag colony.

Graham Land geographical object

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 and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in which the name "Antarctic Peninsula" was approved for the major peninsula of Antarctica, and the names Graham Land and Palmer Land for the northern and southern portions, respectively. The line dividing them is roughly 69 degrees south.

Antarctica Polar continent in the Earths southern hemisphere

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,200,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Contents

Description

The island is about 20  ha in area. It lies 150 m north of the largest of the Berthelot Islands group, some 3 km off the Graham Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is 520 m long from north to south and 500 m wide from east to west, rising to a rounded peak 83 m high. It rises steeply on all sides, with precipitous cliffs on the southern and eastern sides.

Hectare metric unit of area

The hectare is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides, or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.

Antarctic Specially Protected Area

It is protected as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.108 because of its vegetation which was described as “probably the most luxuriant anywhere on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula”. On its north-facing slopes it has well-developed banks of moss turf formed by Polytrichum strictum and Chorisodontium aciphyllum overlying peat more than a metre deep. Antarctic hair grass grows in small patches on the steep, rocky north-western corner of the island near a colony of 500–600 Antarctic shags, one of the largest on the Antarctic Peninsula. [1]

An Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) is an area on the continent of Antarctica, or on nearby islands, which is protected by scientists and several different international bodies. The protected areas were established in 1961 under the Antarctic Treaty System, which governs all the land and water south of 60 latitude and protects against human development. A permit is required for entry into any ASPA site. The ASPA sites are protected by the governments of Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, Chile, France, Argentina, Poland, Russia, Norway, Japan, India, Italy, and Republic of Korea. There are currently 72 sites.

<i>Polytrichum strictum</i> species of plant

Polytrichum strictum, commonly known as bog haircap moss or strict haircap, is an evergreen and perennial species of moss native to Sphagnum bogs and other moist habitats in temperate climates. It has a circumboreal distribution, and is also found in South America and Antarctica.

Chorisodontium aciphyllum is a species of moss found primarily on both sides of the Drake Passage. The species exhibits an extreme degree of cryptobiosis – the ability of a life form to enter a non-metabolic state, extending life indefinitely.

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Dion Islands

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Coppermine Peninsula Antarctic Specially Protected Area

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Urchin Rock is a rock, over which the sea breaks, lying 2.3 nautical miles (4.3 km) west of the largest of the Berthelot Islands, off the west coast of Graham Land. First shown on an Argentine government chart of 1957. So named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1959 because the rock is a hazard on the edge of Grandidier Channel; an urchin is a roguish or mischievous boy.

Deniau Island is a small island lying midway between Darboux Island and the Lippmann Islands, off the west coast of Graham Land. It was discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10, and named by Jean-Baptiste Charcot for a Monsieur Deniau, a donor of numerous gifts to the expedition.

Murray Island (Antarctica)

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Mount Monique is a mountain, about 600 m high, with a prominent rocky north face and ice-covered south slopes, at the western end of the Marion Nunataks on the north coast of Charcot Island in the east Bellinghausen Sea of Antarctica.

Midas Island is an island lying north-west of Apéndice Island in Hughes Bay, off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It was first seen by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Gerlache in 1898 and described as an island with two summits "like the ears of an ass". The name, given by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1960, derives from this description; Midas, King of Phrygia, was represented in Greek satyric drama with the ears of an ass.

Lagotellerie Island Antarctic Specially Protected Area

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South Bay is a 1.7 km wide bay indenting for 2.8 km between Cape Kemp and Py Point on the south-west coast of Doumer Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was charted by the British Graham Land Expedition in February 1935 and so named from its position on the island. The summer only Yelcho research station, administered by the Chilean Antarctic Institute, stands on the shore of the bay. The eastern part of the bay is designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Area to shield it from accidental interference because it is the subject of a long-term marine ecology research program.

Cierva Point and offshore islands Important Bird Area

The Cierva Point and offshore islands Important Bird Area is a 6540 ha tract of land and sea on the Danco Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Bablon Island

Bablon Island is the ice-free island off the west coast of Barison Peninsula, Graham Coast on the Antarctic Peninsula extending 1.15 km in southeast-northwest direction and 400 m wide. It is lying on the west side of Macrobius Cove and separated from Eijkman Point to the south by a 220 m wide passage.

Ablation Point – Ganymede Heights Antarctic Specially Protected Area Antarctic Specially Protected Area

The Ablation Point – Ganymede Heights Antarctic Specially Protected Area is a 180 km2 mountainous tract of land on the eastern side of Alexander Island in the Bellinghausen Sea, west of Palmer Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. It has been designated Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.147 for its geological, geomorphological, glaciological, limnological, and ecological values, and to protect its terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems from uncontrolled human visitation and activity.

Eastern Dallmann Bay Antarctic Specially Protected Area Antarctic Specially Protected Area

The Eastern Dallmann Bay Antarctic Specially Protected Area is a marine Antarctic Specially Protected Area lying at the eastern end of Dallmann Bay, adjacent to the north-western and northern coasts of Brabant Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. With an area of about 676 km2 it covers shallow marine waters that are suitable for bottom trawling for demersal fish and other benthic organisms for scientific research. The area contains important habitat for juvenile fish, especially Black Rockcod and Blackfin Icefish. The fish collected from the site are used in studies of their physiological and biochemical adaptations to low temperatures.

Winkle Island (Antarctica)

Winkle Island is the island lying between Tula Point and Pickwick Island, Pitt Islands, in the Biscoe Islands. It is separated from Renaud Island to the southwest by Mraka Sound.

References

  1. "Green Island. Berthelot Islands, Antarctic Peninsula" (PDF). Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 108: Measure 1. Antarctic Treaty Secretariat. 2002. Retrieved 2013-09-09.

Coordinates: 65°19′S64°09′W / 65.317°S 64.150°W / -65.317; -64.150

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.