Sobral Peninsula
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The Sobral Peninsula () is a high and mainly ice-covered peninsula in northern
Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee an ...
, Antarctica. The feature is long and wide and projects southward into the northern part of the
Larsen Ice Shelf The Larsen Ice Shelf is a long ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula from Cape Longing to Smith Peninsula. It is named after Captain Carl Anton Larsen, the master of the No ...
west of
Larsen Inlet Larsen Inlet is an inlet, long in a north–south direction and wide, between Cape Longing and Cape Sobral along the east coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. Carl Anton Larsen, a Norwegian whaling captain, reported a large bay in this area in 1893, ...
.


Location

The Sobral Peninsula lies towards the east end of the
Nordenskjöld Coast The Nordenskjöld Coast (64° 30' S 60° 30' W) is located on the Antarctic Peninsula, more specifically Graham Land, which is the top region of the Peninsula. The Peninsula is a thin, long ice sheet with an Alpine-style mountain chain. The coast ...
of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends southward into the
Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha ...
. The
Detroit Plateau Detroit Plateau () is a major interior plateau of Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula, with heights between . Its northeast limit is marked by the south wall of Russell West Glacier, from which it extends some in a general southwest direction ...
and Mount Hornsby are to the north. To the east,
Larsen Inlet Larsen Inlet is an inlet, long in a north–south direction and wide, between Cape Longing and Cape Sobral along the east coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. Carl Anton Larsen, a Norwegian whaling captain, reported a large bay in this area in 1893, ...
separates the Sobral Peninsula from Mount Tucker and the Longing Peninsula. The Edgeworth Glacier flows into Mundraga Bay to the west.
Copernix satellite image


Name

The name "Sobral Peninsula" was applied by
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 ...
(UK-APC) in 1963, and derives from Cape Sobral at the south end of this peninsula.


Features

Features and nearby features, from north to south, include:


Ferguson Ridge

. A ridge trending north-northwest – south-southeast and rising to high southwest of Nodwell Peaks. Named in 1983 by the UK-APC after Harry Ferguson (1884-1960), British pioneer of tractor design from 1911 onward.


Skidoo Nunatak

. A nunatak rising to high, south-southeast of Nodwell Peaks. Named by UK-APC following geological work by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), 1978-79, and in association with the names of pioneers of overland mechanical transport grouped in this area. Named after the Bombardier Inc.
Ski-Doo Ski-Doo is a brand name of snowmobile manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products (originally Bombardier Inc. before the spin-off). The Ski-Doo personal snowmobile brand is so iconic, especially in Canada, that it was listed in 17th place ...
snowmobile used extensively by BAS since 1976.


Muskeg Gap

. A low isthmus at the north end of Sobral Peninsula. The gap provides a coastal route which avoids a long detour around Sobral Peninsula Mapped from surveys by FIDS (1960-61). Named by UK-APC after the Canadian "Muskeg, tractor.


Phoenix Peak

. A peak immediately south of Muskeg Gap at the north end of Sobral Peninsula. Mapped from surveys by FIDS (1960-61). Named by UK-APC after the
Phoenix Manufacturing Company The Phoenix Manufacturing Company, later the Phoenix Steel Company, was one of Eau Claire, Wisconsin's oldest manufacturing firms. It manufactured equipment predominantly for the sawmill and logging equipment industries, which were vital to the es ...
of
Eau Claire, Wisconsin Eau Claire (; ) (French for "clear water") is a city mostly located in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat, and with a small portion in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. It had a population of 69,421 in 2020, making it the stat ...
, which started in 1906-07 to design and build steam "locomotive sleds" for hauling logs over ice and snow, probably the earliest successful vehicles of their type.


Fishhook Ridge

. A ridge rising to about high on the east side of Sobral Peninsula. So named by UK-APC in 1990 from the shape of the feature in plan view.


Farquharson Nunatak

. A nunatak northwest of Mount Lombard. Named by the UK-APC after Geoffrey W. Farquharson, BAS geologist who worked in this area in the 1979-80 and 1980-81 field seasons.


Mount Lombard

. The highest peak dominating the mountain mass whose south extremity is Cape Sobral. Mapped from surveys by the
Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic o ...
(FIDS) (1960-61). Named by UK-APC for
Alvin Orlando Lombard Alvin Orlando Lombard was the American inventor of the track-wheeled vehicle. First patented in 1901, the Lombard Steam Log Hauler revolutionized the movement of harvested logs through the woods and set the stage for every snowmobile, tank and bul ...
, American engineer of the Lombard Steam Log Hauler Co., Waterville, Maine, who designed some of the earliest successful over-snow tractors, the first application of knowledge of snow mechanics to trafficability, 1901-13.


Hamer Hill

. A hill (505, m high on the eastern edge of the central mountain mass of Sobral Peninsula. Named by the UK-APC for Richard D. Hamer, BAS geologist, Rothera Station, 1978-79 and 1980-81, who worked in the area.


Cape Sobral

. High, mainly snow-covered elevation which surmounts the south end of Sobral Peninsula. Discovered by the
Swedish Antarctic Expedition The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 was a scientific expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Background Otto Nordensk ...
(SwedAE), 1901-04, under
Otto Nordenskjöld Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld (6 December 1869 – 2 June 1928) was a Finnish and Swedish geologist, geographer, and polar explorer. Early life Nordenskjöld was born in Hässleby in Småland in eastern Sweden, in a Finland Swedish family th ...
, who named it for Lieutenant José M. Sobral of the Argentine Navy, assistant physicist and meteorologist with the expedition.


References


Sources

* * {{refend Peninsulas of Graham Land Nordenskjöld Coast