Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica, South Pole

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• published: 15 Aug 2011
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The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. At the surface, it is the biggest, most prominent peninsula in Antarctica as it extends 1300 km (800 miles) from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet which covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands that are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level and are joined together by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, lies only about 1000 km (620 miles) away across the Drake Passage. The Antarctic Peninsula is currently dotted with numerous research stations and has multiple claims of sovereignty. The peninsula is part of disputed and overlapping claims by Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom. None of these claims have international recognition and the respective countries do not attempt to enforce their claims. The first sighting of the Antarctic Peninsula is disputed but apparently occurred in 1820. The most likely first sighting of the Antarctic Peninsula, and also of the whole Antarctic mainland, was probably on 27 January 1820 by an expedition of the Russian Imperial Navy led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. But the party did not recognize what they thought was an icefield covered by small hillocks as the mainland. Edward Bransfield and William Smith were the first to chart part of the Antarctic Peninsula just three days later on the 30 January 1820. The location was later to be called Trinity Peninsula, and is the extreme northeast portion of the peninsula. The next confirmed sighting was in 1832 by John Biscoe, who named the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula, Graham Land. The first to land on the continent is also disputed. A 19th century seal hunter called John Davis was almost certainly the first, however sealers were secretive about their movements and their logbooks were deliberately unreliable, to protect any new sealing grounds from competition. Between 1901 and 1904, Otto Nordenskiöld led the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, one of the first expeditions to explore parts of Antarctica. They landed on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 1902, aboard the Antarctica which later sank not far from the peninsula with all crew saved. They were later rescued by an Argentine ship. The British Graham Land Expedition between 1934 and 1937 carried out aerial surveys and concluded that Graham Land was not an archipelago but was a peninsula. Agreement on the name Antarctic Peninsula by the US-ACAN and UK-APC in 1964 resolved a long-standing difference over the use of the United States' name "Palmer Peninsula" or the British name "Graham Land" for this feature. This dispute was resolved by making Graham Land the part of the Antarctic Peninsula northward of a line between Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz; and Palmer Land the part southward of that line. Palmer Land is named for the United States seal hunter Nathaniel Palmer. In Chile, the peninsula is officially named O'Higgins Land, after the Chilean patriot and Antarctic visionary. Other Spanish-speaking countries call it "Península Antártica", among them Argentina, who also call it "Tierra de San Martín", and have more bases and personnel there than any other nation. Other portions of the peninsula that were named after various expeditions discovered them include Bowman Coast, Black Coast, Danco Coast, Davis Coast, English Coast, Fallieres Coast, Loubet Land, Nordenskjold Coast and the Wilkins Coast. The 1950s saw a marked increase in the number of research bases as Britain, Chile and Argentina competed to make claims over the same area. Meteorology and geology were the primary research subjects. Since the peninsula has the mildest climate in Antarctica, the highest concentration of research stations on the continent can be found there, or on the many nearby islands, and it is the part of Antarctica most often visited by tour vessels and yachts. Occupied bases include Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, Bellingshausen Station, Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base, Rothera Research Station and San Martín Base. Today, on the Antarctic Peninsula there are many abandoned scientific and military bases. Ice core and sediment samples from the peninsula are valuable because events such as the Little Ice Age can be verified with samples from other continents. Argentina's Esperanza Base was the birthplace of Emilio Marcos Palma, the first person to be born in Antarctica.