Gurnon Peninsula
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Bear Peninsula () is a
peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
about 80 km (50 mi) long and 40 km (25 mi) wide which is ice covered except for several isolated rock bluffs and outcrops along its margins, lying 48 km 30 mi) east of Martin Peninsula on
Walgreen Coast The Walgreen Coast () is a portion of the coast of Antarctica between Cape Herlacher and Cape Waite, or between Eights Coast on the east and Bakutis Coast in the west. It is part of Marie Byrd Land. It extends from 103°24'W to 114°12'W. It was ...
,
Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centur ...
,
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 ...
. First delineated from aerial photographs taken by USN
Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The opera ...
in January 1947. Named by the
Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...
(US-ACAN) after the ice-ship ''
USS Bear USS ''Bear'' was a dual steam-powered and sailing ship built with -thick sides which had a long life in various cold-water and ice-filled environs. She was a forerunner of modern icebreakers and had a diverse service life. According to the Unit ...
'', flagship of the USAS, from which three reconnaissance flights were made in late February 1940, resulting in the discovery of Walgreen Coast (with probable sighting of this feature) and the
Thurston Island Thurston Island is an ice-covered, glacially dissected island, long, wide and in area, lying a short way off the northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. It is the third-largest island of Antarctica, after Alexander Island and Berkner Isl ...
area. This ship, under the name Bear of Oakland, also served as flagship of the Byrd AE, 1933–35, which based at the Bay of Whales,
Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...
. Launched in 1874 at Greenock, Scotland, for use in the sealing trade, she sank in 30-foot seas and high winds in the North Atlantic, March 19, 1963, at which time she was being towed from
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
to
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
.


Geography

Bear Peninsula is large enough that numerous features along its coast and inland have been charted and individually named. Unless specified, the features noted below were first mapped by the
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS) from air photos obtained by Operation Highjump in 1947 as well as surveys and U.S. Navy aerial photographs taken between 1959–66, and were named by the
Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...
(US-ACAN).


West coast

On the west side of the peninsula, the first notable named feature is Hunt Bluff, a steep rock and ice bluff approximately long. It was named after Lieutenant
Robert B. Hunt The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
,
U.S. Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...
, a medical officer with the
Byrd Station The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica. History A joint Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marin ...
winter party, 1966. north is a conspicuous rock bluff called Jeffery Head, named after
Stuart S. Jeffery Stuart may refer to: Names *Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile * Stuart (automobile) Places Australia Generally * Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory North ...
, a researcher in ionospheric physics at
Byrd Station The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica. History A joint Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marin ...
in 1966. north of that is Brush Glacier. Ber Peninsula's northernmost point is ice-covered Koloc Point, named after Lieutenant Commander Bohumil Koloc, Jr., a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot during
Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There w ...
1966 and 1967.


East coast

The northeast portion of Bear Peninsula is called Gurnon Peninsula. Gurnon Peninsula is a completely ice-covered peninsula about long, between Park Glacier and Bunner Glacier. It was named after Lieutenant
P.J. Gurnon * Pajamas, or PJs Arts and entertainment * ''P.J.'' (film), a 1968 film starring George Peppard * P.J. (Disney), Pete Junior, a Disney cartoon character * P.J. (comics), a character in ''The Family Circus'' comic strip * PJ (singer), Paris Alex ...
, a Lockheed Hercules aircraft commander in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze 1965–67. Hummer Point is the eastern point of Gurnon Peninsula. It was named after Dr. Michael G. Hummer. South of Gurnon Peninsula on the east coast is Hamilton Ice Piedmont, an
ice piedmont An ice piedmont consists of "Ice covering a coastal strip of low-lying land backed by mountains." Further reading * Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya, editors, 'Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers'', P 49 References *''The ...
, wide, to the east of
Wyatt Hill Wyatt Hill () is a small ice-covered hill rising to about 500 m at the west side of Hamilton Ice Piedmont, Bear Peninsula, on the Walgreen Coast, Marie Byrd Land. Mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from U.S. Navy aerial photograp ...
. Ice-covered Merrick Point sits on its east side. These features were named in 1977. The piedmont was named for Robert Hamilton, a meteorologist at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
, who was
United States Antarctic Research 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 ...
Station Scientific Leader at South Pole Station, winter party 1975. The point was named for
Dale Merrick Dale or dales may refer to: Locations * Dale (landform), an open valley * Dale (place name element) Geography ;Australia *The Dales (Christmas Island), in the Indian Ocean ;Canada *Dale, Ontario ;Ethiopia *Dale (woreda), district ;Norway *Dal ...
of
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, upper atmosphere researcher and Station Scientific Leader at
Siple Station Siple Station was a research station in Antarctica (), established in 1973 by Stanford's STAR Lab, to perform experiments that actively probed the magnetosphere using very low frequency (VLF) waves. Its location was selected to be near the Earth' ...
, winter party 1975. Continuing south on the east coast, the next notable feature is Grimes Ridge, a high, mostly ice-covered ridge at the north side of
Holt Glacier Holt Glacier () is a broad glacier on Bear Peninsula that flows east to the sea between Grimes Ridge and the Jones Bluffs in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. It was first delineated by the United States Geological Survey from air photos taken by U.S. ...
. It was named after Captain E.W. Grimes, a member of the U.S. Army Aviation Detachment that provided Antarctic support during Operation Deep Freeze. Goepfert Bluff sits at its east end. It was named in 1977 after Lieutenant Eric R. Goepfert, U.S. Navy, officer in charge of the U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, winter detachment at
McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...
, 1976.


See also

*
Harmon Bay Harmon Bay () is an embayment at the north end of Bear Peninsula, about wide, defined by the northeast shore of Moore Dome, the terminus of Park Glacier and the northwest end of Gurnon Peninsula, on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarct ...
*
Wright Pass Wright Pass () is a snow pass to the west of Jones Bluffs, running north–south for 3 nautical miles (6 km) between the terminus of Holt Glacier and the vicinity of Mayo Peak, Bear Peninsula on the Walgreen Coast, Marie Byrd Land. Ma ...


References

{{USGS Peninsulas of Ellsworth Land