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Coulman Island is an ice-covered island in the 
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who vi ...
, located southeast of Cape Jones, Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. It ...
, 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 is long, wide and in elevation. Emperor penguin
The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing from . Feathers of th ...
s inhabit this island. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle John Ross, and four led by William Edwa ...
who named it for his father-in-law, Thomas Coulman. A notable landmark of this island is Cape Anne, the south-easternmost point of the island, so named by Sir James Clark Ross for his wife. Cape Wadworth is the northernmost point of the island.
The island is composed of several overlapping shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...
es that form part of the Hallett Volcanic Province of the McMurdo Volcanic Group
The McMurdo Volcanic Group is a large group of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the western Ross Sea and central Transantarctic Mountains areas of Antarctica. It is one of the largest provinces of alkaline volcanism in the world, having formed as a res ...
. A wide and deep caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
called the Hawkes Heights
Hawkes Heights (or Mount Hawkes) is an ice-filled volcanic crater rising to that dominates the southern part of Coulman Island, in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, and marks the island's summit. The feature was named by the New Zealand Geological Survey ...
can be found on the south end of the island.
Important Bird Area (IBA)
The island was founded in 1841, however, the island is currently recognized as an important bird area because it holds a huge super-colony ofemperor penguin
The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing from . Feathers of th ...
s and is the largest colony of this species in the world. However, scientists speculate that this colony could hold more birds than what they have estimated. More than 26,000 chicks have been counted during the 2018-2019 breeding season indicating that the number of adults ranged from 30,000 to 35,000 breeding pairs. The sheer numbers of penguins on the island had also led scientists to think that there have been potentially larger emperor penguin super-colonies that may have existed in the past before being wiped out during the last ice age.
See also
*Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about t ...
* List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
* List of volcanoes in Antarctica
This is a list of volcanoes in Antarctica.
Table
A 2017 study claimed to have found 138 volcanoes, of which 91 were previously unknown. Some volcanoes are entirely under the ice sheet. Unconfirmed volcanoes are not included in the table below.
...
* Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean.
SCAR's scien ...
(SCAR)
* Territorial claims in Antarctica
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and st ...
References
External links
{{Authority control Volcanoes of Victoria Land Islands of Victoria Land Miocene shield volcanoes Calderas of Antarctica Borchgrevink Coast Volcanic islands