Petermann Island () is an island long, lying southwest of Hovgaard Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica.
Location
Petermann Island is off the
Graham Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
It is in the Wilhelm Archipelago, southwest of Hovgaard Island and
Booth Island, east of the
Vedel Islands and northeast of the
French Passage.
It is northwest of
Mount Shackleton on the mainland.
The island is long and across.
It rises steeply to elevations of up to from a rocky coastline with raised pebble beaches. It has volcanic origins, with about half the land surface covered by a permanent, ice cap. Ice-free areas have a sparse vegetation of and .
The bedrock of the island is granodiorite.
Important Bird Area
The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a
bird colony of about 3,000 pairs of
.
Other birds nesting at the site in smaller numbers include Adélie penguins,
, Wilson's storm petrels and south polar skuas.
Sailing directions
The US Defense Mapping Agency's
Sailing Directions for Antarctica (1976) describes Petermann Island as follows:
History
Petermann Island was discovered by a German expedition 1873–74, and named by
Eduard Dallmann for
August Petermann, noted German geographer and founder of Petermanns Mitteilungen.
The United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) has rejected the name Lund Island, applied by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (BelgAE), 1897–99, in favor of the original naming.
The French Antarctic Expedition (FrAE) of 1908-10 under Jean-Baptiste Charcot wintered over aboard ship in a cove on the southeast side of the island, named Port Circumcision because it was spotted 1 January 1909, the traditional day for the Feast of the Circumcision.
Huts built by the expedition are gone, although a
cairn remains, along with a
refuge hut built by
Argentina in 1955, and a cross commemorating three members of the British Antarctic Survey who died in a 1982 attempt to cross the
sea ice from Petermann to
Faraday Station.
Megalestris Hill Cairn
A
cairn with a
lead plaque was erected on Megalestris Hill in 1909. The original plaque has since been removed to the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in
Paris, but the cairn, with a replica plaque, has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 27), following a proposal by Argentina, France and the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
Groussac Refuge
Groussac Refuge () is an Argentine naval refuge (originally called Hippolyte Bouchard) in Antarctica, located on the southern coast of the Port Circumcision, on Petermann Island. The refuge was inaugurated on February 6, 1955, and is operated by the
Argentine Navy and was occupied periodically by personnel of the British Antarctic Survey of the former Faraday Station.
The refuge is in the middle of a colony of
. Its current name is in honour of
Paul Groussac, a French writer and historian who lived in Argentina and authored a plea on the Argentine claim of the
Malvinas Islands and biographies of Argentine national heroes.
Features
Rouch Point
.
A point forming the northwest end of Petermann Island,.
Charted by the FrAE, 1908–10, and named by Charcot for Jules Rouch, sub-lieutenant of the
Pourquoi-Pas?, who was responsible for the study of meteorology, atmospheric electricity and oceanography on the expedition.
Godfroy Point
.
A point which marks the north extremity of Petermann Island.
Discovered by the FrAE, 1908–10, and named by Charcot for René Godfrey, sub-lieutenant on the Pourquoi-Pas?, who was responsible for the expedition's study of tides and the atmosphere.
Liouville Point
.
A point marking the northeast end of Petermann Island.
Discovered by the FrAE, 1908–10, and named by Charcot for J. Liouville, assistant medical officer and zoologist of the expedition.
Depeaux Point
.
A point forming the south end of Petermann Island.
Discovered and named by the FrAE, 1908–10, under Charcot.
Port Circumcision
.
A cove indenting the southeast side of Petermann Island.
Discovered on January 1, 1909, by the FrAE under Charcot, who named it for the holy day on which it was first sighted.
The cove served as a base for the ship
Pourquoi-Pas? during the 1909 winter season.
Clayton Hill
.
A hill, high, in the north-central part of Petermann Island.
First charted and named by the FrAE, 1908–10, under Charcot.
Megalestris Hill
.
A rocky hill, high, in the south part of Petermann Island.
First charted and named by the FrAE, 1908–10, under Charcot.
Megalestris is an obsolete generic name for the South polar skua.
Nearby features
Herald Reef
.
A reef southwest of Petermann Island, lying on the north side of French Passage in the Wilhelm Archipelago.
First charted by the FrAE under Charcot, 1908–10.
So named by the UK-APC in 1959 because this reef heralds the approach to French Passage from the east.
Barbière Island
.
A small island, the southeasternmost of the islands lying off the south end of Petermann Island.
Charted by the FrAE, 1908–10, and named after M. Barbière, one of the port engineers at
Recife (Pernambuco), who assisted the expedition in 1910.
Charlat Island
.
A small island lying immediately west of the south end of Petermann Island.
Discovered by the FrAE, 1908–10, and named by Charcot for Monsieur Charlat, then French Vice-Consul in Rio de Janeiro.
Thiébault Island
.
A small island which lies next west of Charlat Island in the small group off the south end of Petermann Island.
Discovered by the FrAE, 1908–10, and named by Charcot for Monsieur Thiébault, then French Minister to Argentina.
Boudet Island
.
The largest of several small islands lying off the south end of Petermann Island.
Discovered by the FrAE, 1908–10, and named by Charcot, probably for Monsieur Boudet, then French Consul in Brazil.
Bazzano Island
.
A small island lying off the south end of Petermann Island, between Lisboa Island and Boudet Island.
Discovered and named by the FrAE, 1908–10, under Charcot.
Lisboa Island
.
The southwesternmost of the small islands lying off the south end of Petermann Island.
Discovered and named by the FrAE, 1908–10, under Charcot.
Sources
