Lambda Island is an

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 ...

lying immediately north-west of

Delta Island Delta Island is an island long, lying close southeast of Lambda Island and east of Alpha Island in the Melchior Islands, Palmer Archipelago. The name, derived from the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, was probably given by Discovery Investig ...

in 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 ...

, of the

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anver ...

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 ...

. The island, the largest in the north-western part of the island group, was first roughly charted and named "Île Sourrieu" by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05 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

lambda Lambda (}, ''lám(b)da'') is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant . In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . Lambda gave rise ...

, the 11th letter of the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...

, was given by

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, wh ...

personnel who roughly charted the island in 1927. The island was surveyed by Argentine expeditions in 1942, 1943 and 1948.

Historic site

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

named ‘Primero de Mayo’ was erected on the island by Argentina in 1942. It was the first Argentine lighthouse in the Antarctic and has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 29), following a proposal by Argentina to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

References

Islands of the Palmer Archipelago Historic Sites and Monuments of Antarctica {{PalmerArchipelago-geo-stub

Historic site

See also

References