Gamma Island is an island, long, which marks the southwestern extremity of the

Melchior Islands The Melchior Islands are a group of many low, ice-covered islands lying near the center of Dallmann Bay in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. They were first seen but left unnamed by a German expedition under Eduard Dallmann, 1873–74. The isl ...

in the Palmer Archipelago. This island was first roughly charted and named "Ile Gouts" by the

French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05 The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. First expedition In 1772, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec and the naturalist Jean Guillaume Bruguière sailed to the Antarctic region in search of the fable ...

, under

Jean-Baptiste Charcot Jean-Baptiste-Étienne-Auguste Charcot (15 July 1867 – 16 September 1936), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a French scientist, medical doctor and polar scientist. His father was the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893). Life Jean-Ba ...

, but that name has not survived in usage. The current name, derived from

gamma Gamma (uppercase , lowercase ; ''gámma'') is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter re ...

, the third letter of the Greek alphabet, was probably given by Discovery Investigations personnel who roughly surveyed the island in 1927. The island was also surveyed by Argentine expeditions in 1942, 1943 and 1948. The Argentines call it ''Isla Observatorio'' and erected the

Melchior Base Melchior Base ( es, Base Melchior or, seldom, ''Estación Melchior'') is an Argentine Antarctic base and scientific research station. It is located on Gamma Island (which the Argentines call ''Isla Observatorio''), Melchior Islands, Dallmann B ...

there in 1947.John Stewart: ''Antarctica – An Encyclopedia''. Volume 1, McFarland & Co., Jefferson and London 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6, p. 604.

References

Islands of the Palmer Archipelago {{PalmerArchipelago-geo-stub

See also

References