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Borge Bay
Borge Bay () is a large, irregularly-shaped bay that dominates the east side of Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. It was charted in 1912 by Norwegian whaling captain Petter Sorlle, and named for Captain Hans Borge of the ''Polynesia'', who undertook additional mapping of the bay during the following year. It was charted in more detail in 1927 and 1933 by Discovery Investigations personnel, who named many of its features. It was surveyed further in 1947 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), which named several other features. Geography The headland Balin Point marks the north side of the entrance to Borge Bay. It was charted in 1933 and named in association with Balin Rocks. To the south along the coast are Drying Point, Mooring Point, and Knife Point, whose names first appear on a chart based upon the 1927 survey of Borge Bay, possibly reflecting earlier names given by whalers. Berntsen Point forms the south side of Borge Bay. It was charted i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signy Island
Signy Island is a small subantarctic island in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. It was named by the Norwegian whaler Petter Sørlle (1884–1933) after his wife, Signy Therese. The island is about long and wide and rises to above sea level. Much of it is permanently covered with ice. The average temperature range is to about in winter (i.e. in July). The extremes extend to . It is separated from Coronation Island to the north by Normanna Strait, and from Moe Island to the southwest by Fyr Channel. On Signy Island, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) maintains the Signy Research Station, a scientific station for research in biology. The base was opened on 18 March 1947, on the site of an earlier whaling station that had existed there in the 1920s. The station was staffed year-round until 1996; since that year it has been occupied only from November to April. It houses 10 people. Geography A number of locations on the island have been charted and individually named ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Lakes Valley (South Orkney Islands)
Three Lakes Valley () is a low valley containing three freshwater lakes, extending from the vicinity of Elephant Flats northward to Stygian Cove on Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The three lakes, from north to south, are Heywood Lake, Knob Lake, and Pumphouse Lake. The valley was surveyed and given this descriptive name by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1947. Heywood Lake is the northernmost lake in the valley. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) after Ronald B. Heywood, a limnologist with the British Antarctic Survey. Knob Lake is the central lake in the valley. It was named by UK-APC because there is a glacier-scoured rock knob forming a small island near the south end of the lake. Pumphouse Lake is the southernmost of the three lakes. It was named by UK-APC because of the abandoned pump house Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moraine Valley
Moraine Valley () is a valley filled with morainic debris, long, which drains north into Elephant Flats on the east side of Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands off Antarctica. In summer a stream, fed by the ice slopes at its south end, runs in this valley. It was named by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey following their survey of 1947. Orwell Lake is a small lake in Moraine Valley, lying southeast of Orwell Glacier in the east part of Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. The lake has developed with the retreat of Orwell Glacier in recent years. Named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1981 in association with the glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as .... References Valleys of Antarctica Landforms of the Sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orwell Glacier
Orwell Glacier () is a small glacier, less than 0.5 nautical miles (0.9 km) long, which descends steeply from the south slopes of Snow Hills and terminates in 20 m ice cliffs along the south margin of Elephant Flats in the east part of Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. Surveyed by DI personnel in 1927 and named by them for the Norwegian transport throughout the seasons 1925–26 to 1929–30. Resurveyed by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1947. See also * List of glaciers in the Antarctic * Glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, c ... References Glaciers of the South Orkney Islands {{Antarctica-glacier-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant Seal
Elephant seals are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus ''Mirounga''. Both species, the northern elephant seal (''M. angustirostris'') and the southern elephant seal (''M. leonina''), were hunted to the brink of extinction for oil by the end of the 19th century, but their numbers have since recovered. They are the largest extant taxa, extant carnivorans, weighing up to . The northern elephant seal, somewhat smaller than its southern relative, ranges over the Pacific coast of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The most northerly breeding location on the Pacific Coast is at Race Rocks Marine Protected Area, Race Rocks, at the southern tip of Vancouver Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The southern elephant seal is found in the Southern Hemisphere on islands such as South Georgia Island, South Georgia and Macquarie Island, and on the coasts of New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina in the Peninsula Valdés. In southern Chile, there is a small colony of 120 animals at J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal flat ecosystems are as extensive globally as mangroves, covering at least of the Earth's surface. / They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries; they are also seen in freshwater lakes and salty lakes (or inland seas) alike, wherein many rivers and creeks end. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of estuarine silts, clays and aquatic animal detritus. Most of the sediment within a mudflat is within the intertidal zone, and thus the flat is submerged and exposed approximately twice daily. A recent global remote sensing analysis estimated that approximately 50% of the global extent of tidal flats occurs within eight countries (Indonesia, China, Austral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic Fur Seal
The Antarctic fur seal (''Arctocephalus gazella''), is one of eight seals in the genus '' Arctocephalus'', and one of nine fur seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. Despite what its name suggests, the Antarctic fur seal is mostly distributed in Subantarctic islands and its scientific name is thought to have come from the German vessel SMS Gazelle, which was the first to collect specimens of this species from Kerguelen Islands. Taxonomy Antarctic fur seals are member of the genus ''Arctocephalus''. Recently, a proposal was made to reassign this species to the resurrected genus ''Arctophoca''. Antarctic fur seals may be confused with southern otariids that share their range, like Subantarctic (''A. tropicalis''), New Zealand (''A. forsteri''), and South American fur seals (''A. australis''), and the Juan Fernandez fur seal (''A. phillippii''), as well as the South American (''Otaria flavescens'') and New Zealand sea lions (''Phocarctos hookeri''). Genetic studies on population ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shingle Beach
A shingle beach (also referred to as rocky beach or pebble beach) is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles (as opposed to fine sand). Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging from diameter. While this beach landform is most commonly found in Europe, examples are found in Bahrain, North America, and a number of other world regions, such as the west coast of New Zealand's South Island, where they are associated with the shingle fans of braided rivers. Though created at shorelines, post-glacial rebound can raise shingle beaches as high as above sea level, as on the High Coast in Sweden. The ecosystems formed by this unique association of rock and sand allow colonization by a variety of rare and endangered species. Formation Shingle beaches are typically steep, because the waves easily flow through the coarse, porous surface of the beach, decreasing the effect of backwash erosion and increasing the formati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Orkney Islands
The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula''Antarctica: Secrets of the Southern Continent'' p. 122 David McGonigal, 2009 and south-west of . They have a total area of about . The islands are claimed both by Britain (as part of the since 1962, previously as a [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirounga Leonina
The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its name from its massive size and the large proboscis of the adult male, which is used to produce very loud roars, especially during the breeding season. A bull southern elephant seal is about 40% heavier than a male northern elephant seal (''Mirounga angustirostris''), twice as heavy as a male walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus''), and 6–7 times heavier than the largest living mostly-terrestrial carnivoran, the polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') and the Kodiak bear (''Ursus arctos middendorffi''),. Taxonomy The southern elephant seal was one of the many species originally described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his '' Systema Naturae'', where it was given the binomial name of ''Phoca leonina''. John E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thule Islands
The Thule Islands are a group of small islands and rocks lying southwest of Balin Point in the northwestern part of Borge Bay, Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands off Antarctica. The name "Thule Rocks" was used as early as 1916, and appears to refer at least in part to this group. The ''Thule'', one of the first floating factories to flense whales at sea, belonged to the Thule Whaling Company of Oslo. It operated in the South Orkney Islands in 1912–13 and 1913–14 and anchored on the east side of Signy Island during January 1913. The altered form of the name was recommended by the UK Antarctic Place-names Committee following a survey by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic o ... in 1947. References Islands of the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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