Port Foster is one of the safest harbours in

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 ...

, located in

Deception Island Deception Island is an island in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbor, which is occasionally troubled by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an act ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

History

The harbour was known to sealers as early as 1820, and in its early history was called ''Port Williams'', after Captain William Smith's

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

, ''Williams''; or ''Yankee Harbor'', because of the number of American sealers who harboured there. The port, briefly called Yankee Harbour and Port Dunbar, was named Port Foster after Henry Foster, captain of and leader of the first scientific expedition to the island in Jan.-March 1829. The expedition, based in Pendulum Cove, made gravitational and magnetic measurements, produced the first

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historic ...

, made temperature measurements, and made a

hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...

. Former names for the port have remained for other features in the same archipelago —

Williams Point Williams Point is the point forming both the north extremity of Varna Peninsula and the northeast tip of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Separated from Zed Islands to the north by Iglika Passage. The discovery of ...

and

Yankee Harbor Yankee Harbour is a small inner harbour entered from Shopski Cove between Glacier Bluff and Spit Point, indenting the south-west side of Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is long in west-south-west to east-north ...

Description

The centre of Deception Island is a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

, formed by a gigantic volcanic eruption and later flooded. This has created the basin-like harbour of Port Foster. The entrance to Port Foster is only wide and is named

Neptune's Bellows Neptune's Bellows is a channel on the southeast side of Deception Island forming the entrance to Port Foster, in the South Shetland Islands. The name, after the Roman sea god Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the fa ...

. The

benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...

of Port Foster is of great

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

interest due to the natural disturbance induced by the volcanic activity. Two areas have been collectively protected as

Antarctic Specially Protected Area An Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) is an area on the continent of Antarctica, or on nearby islands, which is protected by scientists and several different international bodies. The protected areas were established in 1961 under the Antarct ...

(ASPA) No.145.

References

Geography of Deception Island Antarctic Specially Protected Areas Bodies of water of the South Shetland Islands Ports and harbours of the South Shetland Islands {{DeceptionIsland-geo-stub

History

Description

See also

References