Wiencke Island

The Wiencke Island is an island in the southeast of the Palmer Archipelago west of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Topography

The Wiencke Island is separated by the Neumayer Channel from Anvers Island in the Northeast. It measures in southwest-northeast direction about 26 kilometers and is 3-8 kilometers wide. The island is mountainous, the highest mountain range is the Sierra Dufief in the southwest. Here is the 1415 m high Luigi Peak, the highest point of the island.

History

The island was discovered by the Belgica Expedition (1897-1899) under Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery and after on this trip fatalities Norwegian sailor, Carl- August Wiencke (1877-1898), named. During the Fourth French Antarctic Expedition (1904-1907) was mapped by Jean -Baptiste Charcot. 1929 and 1930 saw Hubert Wilkins of Port Lockroy in the northwest of the island to two flights over the Antarctic Peninsula and to Deception Iceland.

During the Second World War, the island played a strategic role in British military action Operation Tabarin. On the northwest shore in 1944 on the island Goudier the base of Port Lockroy ( station A ) was built, which was used until 1962 as a research station. Here dealt you look from 1950 mainly with the study of the ionosphere. The hut was built there was named Bransfield House, after the captain of the Royal Navy Edward Bransfield, who first mapped a portion of the Antarctic continent in the years 1819-1820. Since 1962, research on the British station F be continued on the Argentine Islands.

Since the Antarctic summer of 1996, the island is often visited by cruise ships, tourist attractions are the station and the penguins on the island.