The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall area is 372 km2 (144 sq mi) and it has 101.9 km (63 mi) of coastline. Discovered in the mid-19th century, the islands lie on the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean and have been an Australian territory since 1947.
The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 604 km (375 mi) north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and 844 km (524 mi) south-west of South Georgia Island. They have a total area of about 620 km2 (240 sq mi). The islands are claimed both by Britain, and by Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, sovereignty claims are held in abeyance.
Atlas Cove is a cove on the north coast of Heard Island and McDonald Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, and is entered between the base of the Laurens Peninsula and Rogers Head.
Baudissin Glacier is a tidewater glacier on the north side of Heard Island. in the southern Indian Ocean. Located 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) west of Challenger Glacier, Baudissin Glacier is 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) wide and flows into the western part of Corinthian Bay. The terminus of Baudissin Glacier is located at the western side of Corinthian Bay, at Sealers Cove. To the east of Baudissin Glacier is Challenger Glacier, whose terminus is located at the eastern side of Corinthian Bay, close west to Saddle Point. To the south of Baudissin Glacier is Schmidt Glacier, and to the northwest is Atlas Cove. Kildalkey Head is west of Schmidt Glacier. To the south of Schmidt Glacier is Vahsel Glacier, whose terminus is at South West Bay, between Erratic Point and Cape Gazert. Immediately south of Vahsel Glacier is Allison Glacier. Click here to see a map of Baudissin Glacier and the northwestern coast of Heard Island.
Stephenson Glacier is a glacier close west of Dovers Moraine on the east side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Its terminus is between Dovers Moraine and Stephenson Lagoon, with part of the glacier flowing to Doppler Hill and Sealers Beach. To the north of Stephenson Glacier is Brown Glacier, whose terminus is located at Brown Lagoon. To the southwest of Stephenson Glacier is Winston Glacier, whose terminus is located at Winston Lagoon, between Cape Lockyer and Oatt Rocks.
Schmidt Glacier is a glacier, 0.7 nautical miles (1.3 km) long, flowing west from Baudissin Glacier between Mount Drygalski and North West Cornice, on the west side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. To the north of Schmidt Glacier is Baudissin Glacier, whose terminus is located at the western side of Corinthian Bay, near Sealers Cove. Kildalkey Head is west of Schmidt Glacier. To the south of Schmidt Glacier is Vahsel Glacier, whose terminus is at South West Bay, between Erratic Point and Cape Gazert. Immediately south of Vahsel Glacier is Allison Glacier. Click here to see a map of Schmidt Glacier and the northwestern coast of Heard Island.
Fairchild Beach is a sandy beach, 0.32 nautical miles (0.6 km) wide and 1 nautical mile (2 km) long, which extends north from the base of Round Hill to the south side of the terminus of Compton Glacier, on the east side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The beach faces Compton Lagoon, and at its western edge communicates with the rocky Gilchrist Beach. To the south of Fairchild Beach is Brown Glacier, whose terminus is located at Brown Lagoon.
Cape Gazert is a cape at the western end of the rocky promontory which forms the south side of South West Bay, on the west side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. This feature was known to American sealers as "Green Point", as shown by Captain H.C. Chester's 1860 sketch map and other sealer maps of the period. The present name was applied by the First German Antarctica Expedition when they landed at the feature in February 1902, after Doctor Hans Gazert, medical officer with the expedition, and it has become established in international usage.
South West Bay is an open bay indenting the west side of Heard Island immediately north of Cape Gazert in the southern Indian Ocean. The bay was roughly charted on an 1860 sketch map compiled by Captain H.C. Chester, an American sealer. The name "S.W. Bay" appears on an 1882 chart compiled by Ens. Washington Irving Chambers aboard the USS Marion at Heard Island in January 1882. The bay name appears to have developed from an American sealer name, "Southwest Beach," in use about 1860 for the pebble beach at the north end of this bay.
Corinthian Bay is a bay, which is 3 miles (5 km) wide and recedes 1.5 miles (2.4 km), entered between Rogers Head and Saddle Point on the north coast of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The name appears on an early chart compiled by American sealers. It was probably given by Captain Erasmus Darwin Rogers, American whaler and sealer, after his vessel Corinthian in which he made the first landing on Heard Island in March 1855. Nearby features include Corinth Head.
Cape Bidlingmaier is a rocky cape at the east side of the entrance to Mechanics Bay, on the north side of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The feature appears to have been known to American sealers as Morgan's Point, as shown by Captain H.C. Chester's 1860 sketch map of the island. The name Negros Head was also in use by American sealers during the 1860–70 period. The name Bidlingmaier was applied by the First German Antarctica Expedition, under Erich von Drygalski, who made a running survey and landing along the north side of the island in 1902. Friedrich Bidlingmaier served as magnetician and meteorologist with the expedition.
Mechanics Bay is a bay, 1 nautical mile (2 km) wide, lying immediately east of Saddle Point on the north coast of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It was named by American sealers after the schooner Mechanic, a tender to the Corinthian in Captain Erasmus Darwin Rogers' sealing fleet which landed at Heard Island in 1855.
Wohlschlag Bay is a large bay indenting the western side of Ross Island, Antarctica, and lying between Harrison Bluff and Cape Royds.
Cave Bay is a 0.3-nautical-mile-wide (0.56 km) cove indenting the west side of Heard Island, an uninhabited Australian overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, between West Bay and South West Bay. The bay was formed by the erosion of an extinct volcanic crater of which Mount Andree forms the north side.
Spit Point is the east tip of the 5-nautical-mile long Elephant Spit, a conspicuous spit at the eastern end of Heard Island. The feature was charted by early American sealers at Heard Island in the years following initiation of sealing operations there in 1855. The descriptive name was apparently given some years later and is now established in usage.
The Heard Island glaciers covered 79 percent of Heard Island itself, in 1947, covering 288 km2; by 1988, this had decreased by 11 percent to 257 km2. The glaciers fall under the Antarctic Environmental Gradient, which spans 30 degrees of latitude and includes a range of macro-climatic zones from cool temperate islands to the frigid and arid Antarctic continent. Glaciers extend from 2745 m to sea level, with ice up to 150 m deep. The geologic movement of the glaciers can appear fast-flowing due to the steep slope and high precipitation, and are particularly sensitive to climatic fluctuations. Measurements between 1947 and 1980 show glacial retreat, particularly on the eastern flanks, is correlated with changes in weather patterns.
Elephant Spit is a 9 km long sand spit at the eastern end of subantarctic Heard Island, in the Australian territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, lying in the Southern Ocean on the Kerguelen Plateau about 450 km south-east of the Kerguelen Islands. The name refers to southern elephant seals, also known as sea elephants, which breed in large numbers on Heard Island and formed the basis for commercial sealing for oil there during the 19th century.
The McDonald Islands is an uninhabited archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean in the vicinity of Heard Island. Together with Heard Island, they make up the Australian external territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands. The McDonald Islands are the emergent peaks of submarine volcanoes and are Australian external territory. Prior to 1992, there had not been an eruption in the previous 75,000 years.
The geography of the Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) refers to the geography of Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, one of the most remote places on earth. The islands belong to Australia and are located 4,000 kilometres (2,485.5 mi) southwest of the mainland in the Southern Ocean. These subantarctic islands were transferred to Australia by the United Kingdom in 1947. They lie between Madagascar and Antarctica.
This article incorporates public domain material from "Spit Bay". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey. 
