Online Encyclopedia
Categories: Ridge volcanoes | Sub-antarctic islands | Volcanoes of Norway | Volcanoes of the Southern Ocean
Bouvet Island
Bouvet Island (Norwegian Bouvetøya) is an uninhabited sub-antarctic volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, south-southwest of the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) .
| Contents |
Geography
Bouvet Island lies at latitude 54°26' S and longitude 3°24' E. It is 58.5 km² large and almost entirely covered by glaciers. It has no ports or harbors, only offshore anchorages, and is difficult to approach. The glaciers form a thick ice layer falling in high cliffs into the sea or onto the black beaches of volcanic sand. Also, the 29.6 km of coastline are often surrounded by an ice pack. The highest point on the island is called Olavtoppen and peaks to 780 m above sea level.
History
Bouvet Island was discovered on January 1, 1739 by Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, who commanded the French ships Aigle and Marie. However, the island's position was not accurately fixed and Bouvet did not circumnavigate his discovery, so it remained unclear whether it was an island or part of a continent.
The island was not sighted again until 1808, when it was spotted by one Lindsay, who was the captain of a whaler. Though he didn't land, he was the first to correctly fix the island's position. The first successful landfall dates to 1822, when a captain Morrell landed, hunting for seals. In 1825, one captain Norris landed on the island, named it Liverpool Island and claimed it for the British Crown. In 1898, the German Valdivia expedition of Carl Chun visited the island, but didn't land. The first extended stay on the island was in 1927, when a Norwegian crew stayed for about a month; this is the basis for the territorial claim by Norway, who have named the island Bouvetøya (Bouvet Island in Norwegian). The UK waived its claim in favor of Norway the following year.
In 1971, Bouvet Island and the adjacent territorial waters were designated a nature reserve. The island remains uninhabited, although an automated weather station was set up there in 1977 by the Norwegians.
On September 22, 1979, a nuclear bomb test was conducted between Bouvet Island and Prince Edward Islands. The test was detected by orbiting satellites, which recorded a brief but intense burst of light, and radioactive debris was later detected by scientists in the Australian Antarctic Territory. No country has ever admitted responsibility for the test, though it is widely believed to have been carried out by South Africa.
Despite being uninhabited, Bouvet Island has the Internet top-level domain country code .bv.
Bouvet in Literature
Bouvet, redundantly called "Bouvetøya Island," was the setting of the 2004 movie Alien vs. Predator.
See also
External link
Categories: Ridge volcanoes | Sub-antarctic islands | Volcanoes of Norway | Volcanoes of the Southern Ocean