Arthur Harbour

Arthur Harbour
Location of Arthur Harbour
Antarctica

Arthur Harbour (64°46′S 64°04′W / 64.767°S 64.067°W / -64.767; -64.067Coordinates: 64°46′S 64°04′W / 64.767°S 64.067°W / -64.767; -64.067) is a small harbour entered between Bonaparte Point and Norsel Point on the south-west coast of Anvers Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica.

History

Arthur Harbour was roughly charted by the French Antarctic Expedition (1903–1905) under Jean-Baptiste Charcot. It was surveyed in more detail in 1955 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), who established a station near the head of the harbour. It was named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-names Committee (UK-APC) in 1956 after Oswald Raynor Arthur, then Governor of the Falkland Islands.[1]

Station N

Arthur Harbour was the location of the British research Station N. It was active from February 28, 1955 to January 10, 1958 with the intention of searching in the survey and geology. The Station, which was converted in a biological laboratory, was loaned to United States on June 2, 1963. It was destroyed by fire, on December 28, 1971, while renovating works were carried out by the British Antarctic Survey. The debris were removed in 1991.[2]

Important Bird Area

Some 214 ha of land and sea in northern Arthur Harbour, about 1–2 km north-west of Palmer Station, has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International. The site comprises Norsel Point, Humble Island, Breaker Island, Elephant Rocks and Torgersen Island, along with the intervening marine zone. Some of the islands have been designated Restricted Zones within ASMA 7: Southwest Anvers Island and Palmer Basin. The site is an IBA because it supports colonies of breeding seabirds, jncluding Adélie penguins (11,500 pairs), macaroni penguins, southern giant petrels and imperial shags.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Arthur Harbour
  2. ↑ Station N British Antarctic Survey
  3. ↑ "Northern Arthur Harbour area". BirdLife data zone: Important Bird Areas. BirdLife International. 2013. Archived from the original on 2007-07-10. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
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