Renaud Island is an ice-covered
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 ...
in the
Biscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands is a series of islands, of which the principal ones are Renaud, Lavoisier (named ''Serrano'' by Chile and ''Mitre'' by Argentina), Watkins, Krogh, Pickwick and Rabot, lying parallel to the west coast of Graham Land and extending ...
of
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 cont ...
, long and from (average ) wide, lying between the
Pitt Islands
The Pitt Islands are a group of small islands lying immediately off the north extremity of Renaud Island, at the north end of the Biscoe Islands. The name "Pitt's Island," after William Pitt the Younger, the British Prime Minister, was applied by ...
and
Rabot Island
Rabot Island is an island long and wide, lying south of Renaud Island in the Biscoe Islands. First charted by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05, under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, who named it for Charles Rabot.
Originally discovered by Jo ...
. It is separated from the Pitt Islands to the northeast by
Mraka Sound, and from
Lavoisier Island to the southwest by
Pendleton Strait.
[
]
History
The Biscoe Islands were discovered in 1832 by a British expedition under John Biscoe
John Biscoe (28 April 1794 – 1843) was an English mariner and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to have sighted the areas named Enderby Land and Graham Land along the coast of Antarctica. The expedition also found a number of is ...
and were first roughly surveyed by the French Antarctic Expedition
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 fabl ...
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- ...
, 1903–05 and 1908–10. It was on this second expedition that Renaud Island was first charted and named. Renaud Island was again roughly surveyed in 1935-36 by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE).[
A number of the island's geographical features have been individually charted and named. The majority, except where noted below, were first accurately charted on an Argentine government chart of 1957, and named by the ]United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee
The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) an ...
(UK-APC) during the 1950s.[
]
Geography
Weaver Point forms the northernmost end of the island. It was named for American professor of geography John C. Weaver.[ to the east is Tula Point, the island's northeast extremity. Alino Island lies 1 km south-southeast of Tula Point. The point was named for the '' Tula'', one of the two vessels from Biscoe's expedition.][
Zubov Bay is a bay 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide, indenting the east side of Renaud Island. It was named for Soviet ]oceanographer
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...
Nikolay Nikolaevich Zubov.[
Jurva Point is the extremity of a small peninsula forming the southeast end of the island. It was named for ]Risto Jurva
Risto ( sr, Ристо) is a masculine given name, found in Finnish, Estonian and South Slavic. In South Slavic, it is a hypocorism derived from '' Hristofor'' or ''Hristivoje''. It may refer to:
Estonia
*Risto Järv (born 1971), folklorist
* ...
, a Finnish pioneer in sea ice studies.[ Lively Point forms the southern extremity of Renaud Island. The point was named for the cutter ''Lively'', Biscoe's other vessel.][ Armstrong Reef extends for from the south-west end of Renaud Island.][
Malmgren Bay indents the west side of the island, immediately north of Speerschneider Point on nearby Belogushev Island. It was named for Swedish meteorologist ]Finn Malmgren
Finn Adolf Erik Johan Malmgren (9 January 1895 – ) was a Swedish meteorologist and Arctic explorer.
Biography
Malmgren studied in Göteborg, Sundsvall, and Stockholm. In 1912, he began his studies at Uppsala University where he recei ...
.[ Maurstad Point lies midway along the west side of the island, north-northeast of Speerschneider Point. It was named for Norwegian geographer Alf Maurstad.][ Kusunoki Point is on the northwest coast of the island. It was mapped from air photos by ]Hunting Aerosurveys
Hunting Aerosurveys Ltd was a British aerial photography company founded by Percy Hunting in 1944. Its operations became more diversified under the name Hunting Surveys.
History
The firm incorporated Aerofilms Ltd and the Aircraft Operating Co ...
, 1956–57, and was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee
The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...
for Kou Kusunoki, a Japanese sea ice specialist.
See also
* Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
* List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
* List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
* Rodman Passage
Rodman Passage () is a passage between the south end of Renaud Island and Rabot Island, in the Biscoe Islands. Charted by the French Antarctic Expedition under Charcot, 1908–10. Named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC ...
* SCAR
A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a n ...
* Territorial claims in Antarctica
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and st ...
* Weaver Point
References
Islands of the Biscoe Islands
{{Biscoes-geo-stub