Brabant Island

Brabant Island

Location of Brabant Island (in red)
Brabant Island Location in Antarctica
Geography
Location	Antarctica
Coordinates	64°15′S 62°20′W
Archipelago	Palmer Archipelago
Area	1,770 km2 (680 sq mi)
Length	59 km (36.7 mi)
Width	30 km (19 mi)
Highest elevation	2,520 m (8270 ft)
Highest point	Mount Parry
Administration
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System
Demographics
Population	Uninhabited

Brabant Island is the second largest island of the Palmer Archipelago within the British Antarctic Territory, lying between Anvers Island and Liège Island. Brabant Island is 59 km (37 mi) long north-south, 30 km (19 mi) wide, and rises to 2,520 m (8,268 ft) in Mount Parry. The interior of the island is occupied by two mountain ranges, Solvay Mountains (Cook Summit, 1590 m) in its southern part and Stribog Mountains (summit Mount Parry) in its central and northern parts.

It was named by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897–1899) under Adrien de Gerlache, who named it after the Belgian Province of Brabant, in recognition of the support given to the expedition by its citizens.

A paper summarizing the Joint Services expedition of 1984–1985 describes the island as "notoriously inhospitable" and states that there is evidence for only six visits between the discovery in 1898 and 1984. Members of the expedition overwintered there in 1984–1985, and made the first ascent of Mount Parry.

History

On 6 February 2024, for the first time since 2017, British Royal Navy personnel from HMS Protector landed on the island in an effort to clear three tonnes of waste and abandoned equipment from the 1980s antarctic expedition.

Geology

The Brabant Island Tectonic Block includes up to 2000 m of basaltic-andesitic lavas and volcaniclastics, possibly corresponding to the Lower Cretaceous Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group of the Danco Coast. This group is intruded by a granodiorite sill and Early Eocene hypabyssal dykes. Late Tertiary to Pleistocene basaltic lavas uncomformably overlay this complex.

Maps

• Antarctic Digital Database (ADD). Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated.
• British Antarctic Territory. Scale 1:200000 topographic map. DOS 610 Series, Sheet W 64 62. Directorate of Overseas Surveys, Tolworth, UK, 1980.
• Brabant Island to Argentine Islands. Scale 1:250000 topographic map. British Antarctic Survey, 2008.

Gallery

• 
  Brabant Island seen from northeast, with Hoseason Island and Liège Island in the foreground, and Anvers Island (on the right) and Antarctic Peninsula in the background.

See also

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

Further reading

• John Kimbrey, Joint Services Expedition to Brabant Island, Antarctica, P 179
• Jim D Hansom, C.P. Flint, Holocene ice fluctuations on Brabant Island, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic Science 1 (2), PP 165 – 166
• Damien Gildea, Antarctic Peninsula - Mountaineering in Antarctica: Travel Guide
• William James Mills, Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia, P 99

External links

• Map of the area Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• U.S. Geological Survey, Atlas of Antarctic Research
• (in Portuguese) Brazilian Antarctic Program
• Brabant Island on AADC website
• Brabant Island on NASA website
• current weather on Brabant Island
  • long term updated weather for Brabant Island Archived 14 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  • weather statistics for Brabant Island Archived 14 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
• views of Brabant Island on YouTube