Charcot Island

Charcot Island or Charcot Land is an island administered under the Antarctic Treaty System, long and wide, which is ice covered except for prominent mountains overlooking the north coast. Charcot Island lies within the Bellingshausen Sea, west of Alexander Island, and about north of Latady Island. A notable landmark of the island is its northernmost point, Cape Byrd.

History

Charcot Island was discovered on 11 January 1910 by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, who, at the insistence of his crew and the recommendation of Edwin S. Balch and others, named it Charcot Land. He did so with the stated intention of honoring his father, Jean-Martin Charcot, a famous French physician.[1] The insularity of Charcot Land was proved by Sir Hubert Wilkins, who flew around it on 29 December 1929.

2009 Collapse of ice bridge

The ice bridge holding the Wilkins Ice Shelf to the Antarctic coastline and Charcot Island was long but only wide at its narrowest point – in 1950 it was It shattered in April 2009 over an area measuring . The ice bridge collapsed rapidly, turning into hundreds of icebergs.

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
• Territorial claims in Antarctica