Peacock Sound is an ice-filled

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

, long and wide, separating

Thurston Island Thurston Island is an ice-covered, glacially dissected island, long, wide and in area, lying a short way off the northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. It is the third-largest island of Antarctica, after Alexander Island and Berkner Isl ...

from the Eights Coast of

Ellsworth Land Ellsworth Land is a portion of the Antarctic continent bounded on the west by Marie Byrd Land, on the north by Bellingshausen Sea, on the northeast by the base of Antarctic Peninsula, and on the east by the western margin of the Filchner–Ron ...

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 sound is occupied by the western part of the

Abbot Ice Shelf The Abbot Ice Shelf is an ice shelf long and wide, bordering Eights Coast from Cape Waite to Pfrogner Point in Antarctica. Thurston Island lies along the northern edge of the western half of this ice shelf; other sizable islands ( Sherman ...

, and is therefore not navigable by ships. The feature was discovered by members of the

United States Antarctic Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

in flights from the ship USS ''Bear'' in February 1940, and was further delineated from air photos taken by US Navy Operation HIGHJUMP in December 1946. The sound was first noted to parallel the entire south coast of Thurston Island, thereby establishing insularity, by the USN

Bellingshausen Sea The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between 57°18'W and 102°20'W, west of Alexander Island, east of Cape Flying Fish on Thurston Island, and south of Peter I Island (there the southern ''Vostokkyste ...

Expedition in February 1960. Named after the

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

USS ''Peacock'' in which Captain William L. Hudson, in company with the tender USS ''Flying Fish'' under Lt. William M. Walker, both of the

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

, 1838–42, sailed along the edge of the pack ice to the north of Thurston Island for several days in March 1839.

* Defense Mapping Agency 1992,
Sailing Directions (planning Guide) and (enroute) for Antarctica
', P 382 * Andrew J. Hund,
Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions
', P 374 * M.J. Hambrey, P.F. Barker, P.J. Barrett, V. Bowman, B. Davies, J.L. Smellie, M. Trantern,
Antarctic Palaeoenvironments and Earth-Surface Processes
', P 242 * Gohl, K. (2010):
Tectonics and ice sheet dynamics of West Antarctic margins
', EGU General Assembly, ViennaMay . * Gohl, K., D. Teterin, G. Eagles, G. Netzeband, J. W. G. Grobys, N. Parsiegla, P. Schlüter, V. Leinweber, R. D. Larter, G. UenzelmannNeben, and G. B. Udintsev (2007),
Geophysical survey reveals tectonic structures in the Amundsen Sea embayment, West Antarctica
', in Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World – Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES, edited by A. K. Cooper and C. R. Raymond et al., USGS Open-File Report 2007–1047, Short Research Paper 047, 4 p.; * Katharina Hochmuth and Karsten Gohl,
Glaciomarine sedimentation dynamics of the Abbot glacial trough of the Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf, West Antarctica
', Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 381, 233–244, 24 July 2013,

External links

Peacock Sound
on

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

website
Peacock Sound
on

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 ...

website
Peacock Sound
on marineregions website
Peacock Sound distance calculator

References

* Sounds of Antarctica Bodies of water of Ellsworth Land {{EllsworthLand-geo-stub

Further reading

External links

References