Berkner Island

Berkner Island

Berkner Island shown within Antarctica
Geography
Location	Antarctica
Coordinates	79°30′S 47°30′W
Area	44,000 km2 (17,000 sq mi)
Area rank	31st
Length	320 km (199 mi)
Width	150 km (93 mi)
Highest elevation	869 m (2,851 ft)
Highest point	Thyssenhöhe
Country
Antarctica
Additional information
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System

Berkner Island or Berkner Ice Rise or Hubley Island is a high and completely ice-covered large island about 320 kilometres (200 mi) long and 150 kilometres (93 mi) wide in Antarctica, with an area of 44,000 km² (17,000 sq mi). It is the second largest island in Antarctica after Alexander Island. It is the southernmost island of the world, a title that is sometimes incorrectly awarded to Ross Island. Unlike Ross Island, Berkner is not accessible from the sea, being completely surrounded by ice shelf. The northernmost point of the island is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the open sea. The island lies in the overlapping portion of the Argentine and the British claims.

The island rises to 869 m (2,850 ft) (975 m or 3,200 ft according to other sources) and separates Ronne Ice Shelf from the Filchner Ice Shelf. It is characterized by two domes, Reinwarthhöhe in the north (698 m or 2,290 ft), at 78°19′S 46°20′W, and Thyssenhöhe in the south (869 m or 2,851 ft), at 79°34′S 45°42′W. It is indented by three bays on the eastern side, which are from north to south: McCarthy Inlet, Roberts Inlet, and Spilhouse Inlet. Gould Bay is on the north coast. Berkner Island is about 150 km (93 mi) west of Luitpold Coast, Coats Land, the closest mainland of Eastern Antarctica. 17 km (10.6 mi) off the northwest corner of Berkner Island is Hemmen Ice Rise.

Berkner Island was discovered by members of the United States-International Geophysical Year (US-IGY) party at Ellsworth Station under the leadership of Capt. Finn Ronne, United States Navy Reserve (USNR), during the 1957-1958 season. Berkner Island was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for American physicist Lloyd Berkner, engineer with the Byrd Antarctic Expedition (1928–1930).

Since 1990, Berkner Island has been a jumping off point for a number of long distance polar expeditions. Ben Saunders has planned an unsupported journey from the island to the South Pole and back.

In the 1994/1995 field season the British Antarctic Survey, Alfred Wegener Institute and the Forschungsstelle für Physikalische Glaziologie of the University of Münster cooperated in a project drilling ice cores on the North and South Domes of Berkner Island.

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
• Territorial claims in Antarctica

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Berkner Island" (content from the Geographic Names Information System).