Palmer Land

Antarctic Peninsula map, with Palmer Land visible south of Graham Land

Palmer Land (71°30’0"S, 65°0’0"W) is the southern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula; the part which lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. To the north of that line is Graham Land; both are part of the British Antarctic Territory.

In its southern extreme, the Antarctic Peninsula stretches west, with Palmer Land eventually bordering Ellsworth Land (in an unannexed part of the continent) along the 80° W line of longitude. Palmer Land is bounded in the south by the ice-covered Carlson Inlet, an arm of the Filchner Ice Shelf, which crosses the 80° W line. This is the base of Cetus Hill

Name

Formerly the Americans applied the name of "Palmer Land" to the whiole Antarctic Peninsula, whose proper name according to the British Admiralty was Graham Land. To avoid confusion and argument, in 1964 an agreement was reached between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the American Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, that the name "Antarctic Peninsula" be approved for the major peninsula of Antarctica, and the names "Graham Land" and "Palmer Land" for its northern and southern portions, respectively.

The name of Palmer Land was given after Captain Nathaniel B Palmer; an American sealer who explored the Antarctic Peninsula area southward of Deception Island in the Hero in November, 1820.

References

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