Snow Hill Island

Snow Hill Island

Snow Hill Island, January 1999
Snow Hill Island
Geography
Location	Antarctica
Coordinates	64°28′S 57°12′W / 64.467°S 57.200°W / -64.467; -57.200Coordinates: 64°28′S 57°12′W / 64.467°S 57.200°W / -64.467; -57.200
Archipelago	James Ross Island group
Length	33 km (20.5 mi)
Width	12 km (7.5 mi)
Administration
None
Demographics
Population	0
Additional information
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System

Snow Hill Island is an almost completely snowcapped island, 33 km (21 mi) long and 12 km (7.5 mi) wide, lying off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island to the north-east by Admiralty Sound. It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to South America than any other part of the Antarctic continent.

The island was discovered on 6 January 1843 by a British expedition under James Clark Ross who, uncertain of its connection with the mainland, named it Snow Hill because its snow cover stood out in contrast to the bare ground of nearby Seymour Island. Its insular character was determined in 1902 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition in the ship Antarctic, under Otto Nordenskiöld, who spent the winters of 1901, 1902, and 1903 there, using it as a base to explore the neighbouring islands and the Nordenskjold Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The wooden hut built by the main party of the Swedish Expedition in February 1902, also known as Nordenskiöld House, has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 38), following a proposal by Argentina and the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

A site at the south-western extremity of the island, comprising 263 ha of sea ice adjacent to the coast, has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of about 4000 pairs of emperor penguins. It is one of only two such colonies on land in the Antarctic Peninsula region, the other being that at the Dion Islands.