Cape Hallett is a snow-free area ( Antarctic oasis) on the northern tip of the

Hallett Peninsula Hallett Peninsula () is a triangular, dome-shaped peninsula, long, with cliffs on its eastern seaboard side and on its west side. The peninsula extends from Cape Hallett to Cape Wheatstone and is joined to the mainland by a narrow ridge between ...

on 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 ...

coast of

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. I ...

East Antarctica East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the continent, separated from West Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains. It lies almos ...

Cape Adare Cape Adare is a prominent cape of black basalt forming the northern tip of the Adare Peninsula and the north-easternmost extremity of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Description Marking the north end of Borchgrevink Coast and the west ...

lies to the north.

History

In 1956, 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 ...

II, was damaged by an ice floe at Cape Hallett.

Hallett Station

The cape was the location of a joint scientific base, Hallett Station, between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

during the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific i ...

of 1957, and was manned permanently until 1964, when there was a major fire. It was then used as a summer only base until 1973. The site is currently being remediated by removing hazardous materials: fuel, and oil stored in several large tanks. This is an ongoing project which will take several years to complete.

Antarctic Specially Protected Area

An area of 74 ha is protected under the

Antarctic Treaty System russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico , name = Antarctic Treaty System , image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder , image_width = 180px , caption ...

Antarctic Specially Protected Area An Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) is an area on the continent of Antarctica, or on nearby islands, which is protected by scientists and several different international bodies. The protected areas were established in 1961 under the Antarct ...

(ASPA) No.106 because it contains habitats with a rich and diverse range of plant communities that are the most extensive and representative examples known at the northern end of the latitudinal gradient of Victoria Land and the Ross Sea. Surveys have recorded 18 species of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

es, dominated by '' Bryum subrotundifolium''. Animals found at the site include, as well as four species of

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear e ...

s and three of

springtail Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called ...

s, breeding colonies of south polar skuas and

Adélie penguin The Adélie penguin (''Pygoscelis adeliae'') is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor pen ...

Adélie penguin colony

A large

colony occupies

Seabee Hook Seabee Hook is a low, recurved spit composed of coarse volcanic ash which projects about west from the high rocky ridge forming Cape Hallett, along the coast of Victoria Land. In January 1956, members of the US Navy's Operation Deep Freeze ab ...

, on the west side of Hallett Peninsula between Moubray Bay and

Edisto Inlet Edisto Inlet () is a rectangular arm of Moubray Bay, long and wide, entered between Cape Hallett Cape Hallett is a snow-free area ( Antarctic oasis) on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antar ...

. The history of human impact on the colony through the occupation of Hallett Station, and the subsequent closure of the station, together with the availability of reliable historical data on colony population size, make the site unique and ideal for the study of impacts on, and recovery of, the colony after substantial ecosystem disturbance.

References

External links