Wohlschlag Bay

Wohlschlag Bay (77°22′S 166°25′E / 77.367°S 166.417°E / -77.367; 166.417Coordinates: 77°22′S 166°25′E / 77.367°S 166.417°E / -77.367; 166.417) is a large bay indenting the west side of Ross Island between Harrison Bluff and Cape Royds. Charted by the Discovery Expedition under Scott, 1901-04. Named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) in 1964 for Donald E. Wohlschlag, professor of biology at Stanford University, who outfitted the biology laboratories on the USNS Eltanin and at McMurdo Station, where he worked five summer seasons from 1958-64.^[1]

The southern part of the bay is formed by Maumee Bight, a 6 nautical miles (11 km) long bight between Rocky Point and Micou Point. In association with the names of expedition ships grouped on this island, it was named after USNS Maumee, a tanker that made at least 12 Antarctic deployments to the Ross Sea from 1969–70 to 1984–85. With a 7 million US gallons (26 million litres) capacity, and increased tank storage at McMurdo Station, the Maumee initiated a program of delivering a whole year's supply of bulk petroleum products to the station in a single trip. Prior to 1969 it took two smaller ships six trips to deliver the same amount of fuel.^[1]

On the east side of the bight are the Alcorta Rocks, a nunatak 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) east-northeast of Rocky Point. The feature rises to about 100 metres (330 ft) and is distinctive because three ridges radiate from the center. The rocks were named by US-ACAN in the year 2000 for Jesse J. Alcorta, a year-round support employee with eight field seasons at McMurdo Station from 1992–93 and many trips to South Pole Station; hazardous waste handling specialist at both McMurdo Station and South Pole Station; and cryogenic technician in support of the United States Antarctic Program laboratories.^[2][3]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Wohlschlag Bay" (content from the Geographic Names Information System).