Mount Stagnaro () is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

(1,130 m) located 3 nautical miles (6 km) east-northeast of Mount Gonzalez,

Sarnoff Mountains Sarnoff Mountains () is a range of mountains, 25 nautical miles (46 km) long and 4 to 8 nautical miles (15 km) wide separating the west-flowing Boyd and Arthur Glaciers in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land. Walgreen Peak forms the no ...

, in the Ford Ranges,

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 ...

. The mountain was surveyed and mapped by the United States Antarctic Service (USAS), 1939–41. Named by

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) in 1980 after John Stagnaro of La Crescenta, CA, who during the 1970s carried out nightly Ham radio schedules with the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

McMurdo Vice-Admiral Archibald McMurdo (24 September 1812 – 11 December 1875) was a Scottish naval officer and polar explorer after whom Antarctica's McMurdo Sound, McMurdo Station, McMurdo Ice Shelf, McMurdo Dry Valleys and McMurdo–South Pole ...

, Palmer and

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' ...

s, connecting personnel at isolated research stations with family and friends in 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The ham radio patches provided by "Big John" over many years were a significant factor in maintaining high morale at these stations.

References

Mountains of Marie Byrd Land {{MarieByrdLand-geo-stub