Signy Island

Signy Island is a small sub-antarctic island in the South Orkney Islands group at latitude 60°43' S and longitude 45°36' W. It is about 6.5 km long and 5 km wide and rises to 288 m above sea level. Much of the island is permanently covered with ice. 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.

Signy Island was named by the Norwegian whaler Petter Martin Mattias Koch Sørlle after his wife Signy Therese.

The British Antarctic Survey maintains the Signy Research Station, a scientific station for research in biology. The base was opened on March 18, 1947, on the site of an earlier whaling station that had existed there in the 1920s. The station was staffed year-round until 1996; since that year it has been occupied only from November to April. It houses some 10 people.cite web | title = Who We Are | work = | publisher = Natural Environment Research Council | date = | url = http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_bas/our_organisation/who_we_are.php | format = Web | doi = | accessdate = 2007-11-11 ]

"See also:" Sub-antarctic islands

References

External links

* [http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/research_stations/signy/ BAS page on Signy]
* [http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_bas/our_history/stations_and_refuges/signy.php Another page on Signy from the British Antarctic Survey (Heritage Stations)]