Low Island or ''Isla Baja'', historical names ''Jameson Island'' or ''Jamesons 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 ...
long and wide, southeast of
Smith Island, in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...
.
The island is located at and is separated from Smith Island by
Osmar Strait
Osmar Strait ( bg, проток Осмар, ‘Protok Osmar’ \'pro-tok os-'mar\) is the wide strait in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica between Smith Island to the northwest and Low Island to the southeast.
The strait is named after th ...
. Low Island was so named because of its low
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
.
Low Island was known to
sealers Sealer may refer either to a person or ship engaged in seal hunting, or to a sealant; associated terms include:
Seal hunting
* Sealer Hill, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
* Sealers' Oven, bread oven of mud and stone built by sealers around 180 ...
in 1820, and the name Low Island has been established in international usage for 100 years.
Chinstrap Penguins breed at Cape Garry on Low island resulting in 2nd largest Chinstrap Penguin colony on the island, over at 100,000 pairs.
See also
*
Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about t ...
*
List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
*
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 na ...
*
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...
*
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 ...
Maps
Chart of South Shetland including Coronation Island, &c.from the exploration of the sloop Dove in the years 1821 and 1822 by George Powell Commander of the same. Scale ca. 1:200000. London: Laurie, 1822.
South Shetland Islands: Smith and Low Islands.Scale 1:150000 topographic map No. 13677. British Antarctic Survey, 2009.
References
External links
Low Island.SCAR
Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about t ...
Islands of the South Shetland Islands
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