Smyley Island is an
Antarctic island lying off the
Antarctic Peninsula. The island is long and from wide, and lies about north of
Case Island. It connects to the
Stange Ice Shelf
Stange Ice Shelf (), is an Antarctic ice shelf in Stange Sound, English Coast, bounded to the east by Spaatz Island, to the northwest by Smyley Island, and to the west by fast ice in Carroll Inlet. Named in association with Stange Sound. In c ...
and is separated from
Alexander Island
Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarc ...
by the
Ronne Entrance. Smyley Island is one of the 27 islands of
Palmer Land, Antarctica.
Discovery and naming
In 1939–1941 Smyley Island was first identified as a peninsula of mainland
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 cont ...
by the
United States Antarctic Service
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 ...
and was named ''Cape Smyley''. In 1968 it was identified as an island on a
U.S. Geological Survey
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, and ...
map.
[ The island is named after Captain William H. Smyley, the American master of the sealing vessel ''Ohio'' during 1841–42.][
]
Important Bird Area
A 497 ha site on fast ice
Fast ice (also called ''land-fast ice'', ''landfast ice'', and ''shore-fast ice'') is sea ice that is "fastened" to the coastline, to the sea floor along shoals or to grounded icebergs.Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer- ...
near Scorseby Head, on the northern shore of the island, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of some 6,000 emperor penguins, based on 2009 satellite imagery.
See also
* Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
* List of Antarctic and Subantarctic islands
* List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
* Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean.
SCAR's scien ...
* 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 ...
References
External links
British Antarctic Survey diary
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Penguin colonies
Islands of Palmer Land
{{PalmerLand-geo-stub