Wilkes Land

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Map of Antarctica, with Wilkes Land slightly to the right Antarctica Map.png
Map of Antarctica, with Wilkes Land slightly to the right

Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern Antarctica, formally claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, though the validity of this claim has been placed for the period of the operation of the Antarctic Treaty, to which Australia is a signatory. It fronts on the southern Indian Ocean between Queen Mary Coast and Adelie Land, extending from Cape Hordern in 100°31' E to Pourquoi Pas Point, in 136°11' E. The region extends as a sector about 2600  km towards the South Pole, with an estimated land area of 2,600,000 km², mostly glaciated. It is further subdivided in the following coastal areas which can also be thought of as sectors extending to the South Pole:

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.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Australian Antarctic Territory Australias territorial claim in Antarctica

The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of Antarctica administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of the Environment and Energy. The territory's history dates to a claim on Enderby Land made by the United Kingdom in 1841, which was subsequently expanded and eventually transferred to Australia in 1933. It is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation by area. In 1961, the Antarctic Treaty came into force. Article 4 deals with territorial claims, and although it does not renounce or diminish any preexisting claims to sovereignty, it also does not prejudice the position of Contracting Parties in their recognition or non-recognition of territorial sovereignty. As a result, only four other countries; New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France and Norway recognise Australia's claim to sovereignty in Antarctica.

Contents

  1. Knox Land: 100°31' E to 109°16' E
  2. Budd Land: 109°16' E to 115°33' E
  3. Sabrina Land: 115°33' E to 122°05' E
  4. Banzare Land: 122°05' E to 130°10' E
  5. Clarie Land: (Wilkes Coast) 130°10' E to 136°11' E

In a wider sense, Wilkes Land extends further East to Point Alden in 142°02' E, thereby including Adélie Land, which is claimed by France.

Point Alden in Antarctica is an ice-covered point with rock exposures along the seaward side. The point marks the western side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay and the division between Adélie Coast and George V Coast in Antarctica. The point was discovered on January 30, 1840 by the USEE under Lt. Charles Wilkes, and named by him for Lt. James Alden of the expedition's flagship Vincennes.

Adélie Land Frances territorial claim in Antarctica

Adélie Land is a claimed territory on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a coastline area along the Great Southern Ocean inland all the way to the South Pole. France administrates it as one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands since 1955 and apply the Antarctic Treaty System rules since 1961. Article 4 deals with territorial claims, and although it does not renounce or diminish any preexisting claims to sovereignty, it also does not prejudice the position of Contracting Parties in their recognition or non-recognition of territorial sovereignty. France has had a permanent station in Adélie Land since April 9, 1950. The current Dumont d'Urville Station has a winter population around 33, but this goes up to about 78 during the Antarctic summer.

Name

Wilkes Land gets its name from Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition Commodore Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition 1838 - 1842.jpg
Wilkes Land gets its name from Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition

Wilkes Land is named after Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (later a Rear Admiral), the American explorer who commanded the 1838–42 United States Exploring Expedition. The naming is in recognition of Wilkes' discovery of the continental margin over a distance of 2,400  km (1,500  miles) of coast, thus providing substantial proof that Antarctica is a continent. [1] This definition of extent excludes the area east of 142°02' E, George V Land, which was sighted by Wilkes but has been shown by later expeditions to be further south than the positions originally assigned by him.

Charles Wilkes naval officer and explorer from the United States

Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War (1861–1865), where he attacked a Royal Mail Ship, almost leading to war between the US and the UK. His behavior led to two convictions by court-martial, one stemming from the massacre of almost 80 Fijians on Malolo in 1840.

Continental margin Zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust

The continental margin is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin is the shallow water area found in proximity to continent. The continental margin consists of three different features: the continental rise, the continental slope, and the continental shelf. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area.[1]

The kilometre, or kilometer is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres. It is now the measurement unit used officially for expressing distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the road network of the United Kingdom where the statute mile is the official unit used.

Geology

The ice front of Dibble Ice Shelf, a significant melt water producer from the Wilkes Land region, East Antarctica Dibble Ice Shelf, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica.jpg
The ice front of Dibble Ice Shelf, a significant melt water producer from the Wilkes Land region, East Antarctica

In 2006 a team of researchers led by Ralph von Frese and Laramie Potts used gravity measurements by NASA's GRACE satellites to discover the 300-mile-wide Wilkes Land crater, which probably formed about 250 million years ago. [2]

Ralph R. B. von Frese is an American geophysicist at the Ohio State University who identified the Wilkes Land mass concentration in Antarctica in collaboration with Laramie Potts.

Laramie Potts is an American scientist at Ohio State University who identified the Wilkes Land mass concentration in Antarctica in collaboration with Ralph von Frese. He is from South Africa. He currently teaches geomatics (surveying) at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

<i>The X-Files</i> (film) 1998 film by Rob Bowman

The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction thriller film directed by Rob Bowman. Chris Carter wrote the screenplay. The story is by Carter and Frank Spotnitz. It is the first feature film based on Carter's television series The X-Files, which revolves around fictional unsolved cases called the X-Files and the characters solving them. Five main characters from the television series appear in the film: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, John Neville, and William B. Davis reprise their respective roles as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner, Well-Manicured Man, and the Cigarette-Smoking Man. The film was promoted with the tagline Fight the Future.

Fox Mulder fictional character and protagonist of the television series The X-Files

FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character in the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series The X-Files, played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers consider his theories on extraterrestrial activity as spooky and far-fetched. With his FBI partner Dana Scully, he works in the X-Files office, which is concerned with cases with particularly mysterious or possibly paranormal circumstances that were left unsolved and shelved by the FBI. Mulder was a main character for the first seven seasons, but was limited to a recurring character for the following two seasons. He returns as a main character for the tenth and eleventh seasons.

Dana Scully fictional character and protagonist of the television series The X-Files

Dana Katherine Scully is a fictional character in the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series The X-Files, played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is an FBI agent and a medical doctor (M.D.), partnered with fellow Special Agent Fox Mulder for the first seven, and the tenth and eleventh seasons, and with John Doggett in the eighth and ninth seasons. In the television series, they work out of a cramped basement office at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. to investigate unsolved cases labeled "X-Files". In 2002, Scully left government employment, and in 2008 she began working as a surgeon in Our Lady of Sorrows, a private Catholic hospital – where she stayed for seven years, until rejoining the FBI. In contrast to Mulder's credulous "believer" character, Scully is the skeptic for the first seven seasons, choosing to base her beliefs on what science can prove. She later on becomes a "believer" after Mulder's abduction at the end of season seven.

See also

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Jules Dumont dUrville French explorer

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Shackleton Ice Shelf ice shelf in Antarctica

Shackleton Ice Shelf is an extensive ice shelf fronting the coast of East Antarctica for about 384 km, projecting seaward about 145 km in the western portion and 64 km in the east. It occupies an area of 33,820 km². It is part of Mawson Sea and separates the Queen Mary Coast to the west from the Knox Coast of Wilkes Land to the east. The existence of this ice shelf was first made known by the USEE under Charles Wilkes who mapped a portion of it from the Vincennes in February 1840. It was explored by the Australian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson (1911–14) who named it for Sir Ernest Shackleton. The extent of the ice shelf was mapped in greater detail in 1955, using aerial photography obtained by US Navy Operation Highjump, 1946-47. Further mapping by the Soviet Expedition of 1956 showed the portion eastward of Scott Glacier to be a part of this ice shelf.

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Sabrina Coast coast

Sabrina Coast is that portion of the coast of Wilkes Land, Antarctica, lying between Cape Waldron, at 115° 33' E, and Cape Southard, at 122° 05' E. John Balleny has long been credited with having seen land in March 1839 at about 117° E.

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Murray Monolith is a detached part of Torlyn Mountain in Mac.Robertson Land, Antarctica. It was discovered during the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE), led by Mawson, 1929–1931, and named after Sir George Murray, Chancellor of the University of Adelaide and a patron of the expedition.

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Territorial claims in Antarctica Wikimedia list article

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South Magnetic Pole wandering point on the Earth where the geomagnetic field lines are directed vertically upwards, at 64°S 137°E as of 2015 in the Southern Ocean

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References

  1. ↑ Stanton, William (1975). The Great United States Exploring Expedition. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 175. ISBN   0520025571.
  2. ↑ Gorder, Pam Frost (June 1, 2006). "Big Bang in Antarctica — Killer Crater Found Under Ice". Research News.

Coordinates: 69°00′S120°00′E / 69.000°S 120.000°E / -69.000; 120.000

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.

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