The Bellingshausen Sea is located along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between Alexander Island on its north side, Thurston Island on its south side and Southern Ocean to its west side.
It takes its name from Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen, who explored in the area in 1821.
Alexander Island
Alexander Island is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander The First Island or Isla Alejandro I.
It is a large island with an area of 43,250 km² lying in the Bellingshausen Sea west of the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. Alexander Island lies off the coast of Antarctica and is linked to it by an ice shelf.
Alexander Island is located at 71°00 South and 70°00 West.
Alexander Island is about 240 miles long in a north-south direction, 50 miles wide in the north, and 150 miles wide in the south. Features of the island include the Sofia University Mountains.
Alexander Island was discovered on January 28, 1821 by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named it Alexander I Land for the reigning Tsar Alexander I of Russia, but it was believed to be part of the Antarctic mainland until 1940.
Its insular nature was proven in December 1940, by a sledge party under Finn Ronne of the United States Antarctic Service (USAS). In the 1950s, a British base administered as part of the British Antarctic Territory was constructed as Fossil Bluff.
The island is now used as a meteorological centre and refueling base. The island is claimed by the United Kingdom, Chile and Argentina under the Antarctic Treaty System.
Thurston Island
Thurston Island located 72°06 South and 99°00 West, is an ice-covered, glacially dissected island, 215 km long, 90 km wide and 15,700 km² in area. It lies a short way off the Northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica.
The island is separated from the mainland by Peacock Sound, which is occupied by the western portion of Abbot Ice Shelf.
The island was discovered from the air by Rear Admiral Byrd on February 27, 1940, who named it for W. Harris Thurston, New York textile manufacturer, designer of the windproof "Byrd Cloth" and sponsor of Antarctic expeditions.
Originally charted as a peninsula, the feature was not recognised an island until 1960.
