Stefansson Strait () is an ice-filled strait 35 nautical miles (60 km) long and 3 to 10 nautical miles (18 km) wide, between the east coast of
Palmer Land
Palmer Land () is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica that lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the Advisory Committee on Antarctic N ...
, there called ''Wilkins Coast'', and
Hearst Island. This strait was first sighted by
Sir Hubert Wilkins at the south end of his flight of December 20, 1928, and was named by him for
Vilhjalmur Stefansson. He believed it to be a strait cutting off what is now known to be
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San MartÃn in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...
from the main land mass of Antarctica. The true orientation of the strait was determined by members of the
United States Antarctic Service (USAS) who charted this coast by land and from the air in 1940.
Straits of Antarctica
Bodies of water of Palmer Land
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