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The South Orkney Islands are a group of sub- antarctic islands situated at latitudes 60°50' to 60°83' S, and longitudes 44°25' to 46°25' W in the Southern Ocean.
The archipelago comprises four main islands. Coronation Island is the largest island; its highest point is Mount Nivea and rises to 1266 m above sea level. Laurie Island is the easternmost of the islands. The other islands are the smaller Powell Island and Signy Island as well as a few tiny ones named Saddle Islands. In total, these island have a surface of about 620 km², most of which is covered with ice.
The Inaccessible Islands about 15 nm to the west are also considered part of the South Orkneys.
The climate of the South Orkneys is generally cold, wet, and windy. The average temperatures top at 0 °C and fall to about -10°C in winter (i.e., in July). The extrema reach about 12°C and -44°C, respectively.
The South Orkney Islands were discovered in 1821 by two sealers: the American Nathaniel Brown Palmer and the British George Powell. Powell named Coronation island thus because it was the year of the coronation of King George IV. He called the archipelago "Powell's group".
In 1823Events July 15 San Paolo fuori le Mura church in Rome almost completely destroyed by fire September 10 Simon Bolivar named President of Peru December 2 US President James Monroe delivers a speech to the United States Congress, announcing a new policy of f, James WeddellJames Weddell ( August 24, 1787 September 9, 1834) was an English navigator, sealer, and explorer of the antarctic. Early life He entered the merchant service very early in his life and was apparently bound to the master of a Newcastle collier (a coal tra visited the islands, gave the archipelago its present name and also renamed some of the islands.
Subsequently, the islands were frequently visited by sealers and whalers, but no thorough survey was ever done until the expedition of William Speirs Bruce on the Scotia in 19031903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. Events January 1 Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India, which overwintered at Laurie Island. Bruce surveyed the islands, reverted some of Weddell's name changes, and established a meteorologicalMeteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events which illuminate and are explained by the science of meteorology. Those events are bound by the station, which was turned over to Argentinian meteorologists upon his departure in 19041904 is a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events January 7 The distress signal " CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by " SOS. February 7 A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30. This station, renamed Orcadas in 1951Events January events January 9 United Nations headquarters officially opens ( New York City). January 15 Ilse Koch, The "Witch of Buchenwald," wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in We, is still in operation today and is thus the oldest research station continuously staffed in the Antarctic.
In 1908, the South Orkneys became part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. The British Antarctic Survey opened a biological research station on Signy Island in 1947.
Both the UK and Argentina make territorial claims on the South Orkneys, but as they are further south than 60° S, the archipelago is subject to the Antarctic Treaty.