Drygalski Island is an ice-capped

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

that is long and rises to in the

Davis Sea Davis Sea is an area of the sea along the coast of East Antarctica between West Ice Shelf in the west and the Shackleton Ice Shelf in the east, or between 82° and 96°E. The name "Davis Sea" appears in most leading geographically authoritati ...

of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

, about north of the coast of

Queen Mary Land Queen Mary Land or the Queen Mary Coast () is the portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between Cape Filchner, in 91° 54' E, and Cape Hordern, at 100° 30' E. It is claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory. It w ...

and

north-northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

Cape Filchner Cape Filchner is an ice-covered cape fronting on Davis Sea, 17 miles west-northwest (WNW) of Adams Island. Cape Filchner is located at {{Coord, 66, 27, S, 91, 54, E, display=inline,title. Cape Filchner is the division between Wilhelm II Coast and ...

. The island has an area of . Drygalski Island was first viewed from the

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

coast in November 1912 by members of the

Western Base Party The Western Base Party was a successful exploration party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. The eight-man Western Party was deposited by the SY ''Aurora'' on the Shackleton Ice Shelf at Queen Mary Land. The leader of the team was Fran ...

of the

Australian Antarctic Expedition The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored the largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia. Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Erne ...

(1911-1914), and observed more closely from Sir

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...

's ship

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

on the homeward journey in January 1914. Because Drygalski Island was thought to be "Drygalski's High Land", charted by Professor

Erich von Drygalski Erich Dagobert von Drygalski (; February 9, 1865 – January 10, 1949) was a German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg, East Prussia. Between 1882 and 1887, Drygalski studied mathematics and natural science at t ...

of the German Antarctic Expedition (1901-1903) in 1902, Drygalski's name was given by Sir

to the island. A temporary field station named Mir was opened from 20 May to 6 August in 1960 on the island by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

to study meteorological conditions.

References

Islands of Queen Mary Land {{QueenMaryLand-geo-stub

See also

References