Montagu Island
| Montagu Island | |
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South Sandwich Islands
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|---|---|
 Satellite photograph of Montagu Island | |
| Location | |
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| Location: | 26°23'W 58°25'S |
| Highest point: | Mount Belinda, 4,495 feet |
| Data | |
| Population: | Uninhabited |
Montagu Island is the largest of the South Sandwich Islands, located in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica in the territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
It is a desolate, uninhabited island approximately 7 miles by 6 miles, and over 90% of its surface is permanently covered in ice. The volcano Mount Belinda is its most notable geographic feature, rising to 4,495 feet above sea level.
Montagu is found 37 miles northeast of Bristol Island and 38 moles south from Saunders Island.[1]
The island was first sighted by James Cook in 1775, and named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of its discovery, after whom Cook named the South Sandwich Islands themselves. The first recorded landing was made by the British-Norwegian arctic explorer Carl Anton Larsen in 1908.
Mount Belinda
- Main article: Mount Belinda
Mount Belinda is the prominent feature of Montagu Island, rising to 4,495 feet above sea level; higher than Ben Nevis and the highest point of the South Sandwich Islands.
Mount Belinda's volcano was believed to be inactive until the sighting of low-level ash emission and suspected lava effusion in 2002 by the British Antarctic Survey.
In November 2005, satellite images revealed that an eruption of Mount Belinda had created a molten river a hundred yards wide flowing to the northern shoreline of the island. The event has expanded the area of the island by 49 acres and provided some of the first scientific observations of volcanic eruptions taking place underneath an ice sheet. The volcano is believed to be active still.
Outside links
- Montagu Island - The Island Eencyclopedia at Oceandots.com
References
- ↑ "The Island Encyclopedia". Montagu Island. Oceandots.com. http://oceandots.com/southern/south-sandwich/montagu.php. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- First recorded eruption of Mount Belinda volcano (Montagu Island), South Sandwich Islands, Bull Volcanol (2005) 67:415–422 (PDF)
- LeMasurier, W. E.; Thomson, J. W. (eds.) (1990). Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union. pp. 512 pp. ISBN 0-87590-172-7.
- Mills, William James (2003). Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. pp. 430 pp. ISBN 1-57607-422-6.
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
|---|---|
| South Georgia: | Annenkov Island • Bird Island • Clerke Rocks • Cooper Island • Grass Island • Kupriyanov Islands • Pickersgill Islands • Saddle Island • Shag Rocks • South Georgia • Welcome Islands • Willis Islands • Trinity Island • Grassholm • Black Rocks • Black Rock |
| South Sandwich Islands: |
Bellingshausen • Bristol • Candlemas • Cook • Leskov • Montagu • Saunders • Thule • Vindication • Visokoi • Zavodovski |