Amsler Island is a small island off the south coast of

Anvers Island Anvers Island or Antwerp Island or Antwerpen Island or Isla Amberes is a high, mountainous island long, the largest in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was discovered by John Biscoe in 1832 and named in 1898 by the Belgian Antarctic E ...

in the

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anvers ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. It sits between Loudwater Cove and

Arthur Harbour Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more ...

. The island is a roughly triangular rocky plot of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

land approximately long and wide at its widest point. Narrow Norsel Point, formerly considered a headland of Arthur Harbour, marks its westernmost extremity.

Geography

Three prominent rocks called the Elephant Rocks sit just to the south of Amsler Island, between the coast and

Torgersen Island Torgersen Island is a small rocky island lying just east of Litchfield Island in the entrance to Arthur Harbour, off the south-west coast of Anvers Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was surveyed by the Falkland Islands Dependenc ...

. The rocks are connected to one another by sandy

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s. Their name became established locally among

United States Antarctic Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

(USAP) personnel at nearby

Palmer Station Palmer Station is a United States research station in Antarctica located on Anvers Island, the only US station located north of the Antarctic Circle. Initial construction of the station finished in 1968. The station, like the other U.S. Antarcti ...

in about 1971, as the rocks provide habitat favoured by

elephant seals 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 ...

History

Amsler Island was once thought to be a part of Anvers Island because the gap between the islands was covered by the Marr Ice Piedmont. The southern coast of Anvers Island, including the land now known as Amsler Island, was originally surveyed 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 on ...

(FIDS) in 1955. Norsel Point, thought to be a point on the coast of Arthur Harbour, was named by the

United Kingdom Antarctic Place-names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...

(UK-APC) after the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

sealing vessel , which sailed with the FIDS survey. Rapid recession of the ice due to

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

revealed Amsler Island as a separate island in 2004. The

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

named Amsler Island in recognition of American marine biologists Charles and Margaret Amsler of the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

, who had researched the area for over three decades. The name Norsel Point was retained. Amsler Island was the original site of the

research base

from 1965 until the current station approximately away was constructed in 1968.

References

External links

press release on island

newspaper article on island

Islands of the Palmer Archipelago Geography of Anvers Island {{AnversIsland-geo-stub

Geography

History

See also

References

External links