Location of Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands
Cape Shirreff
Barclay Bay and Robbery Beaches from near Basalt Lake on Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, with left to right Lair Point, Frederick Rocks, Cutler Stack, Nedelya Point and the northern part of Urvich Wall in the middle ground, and Cape Shirreff and Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula in the right background
Fragment of George Powell's 1822 chart of the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands featuring Cape Shirreff
Topographic map of Livingston Island

Cape Shirreff is a prominent cape at the north end of the rocky peninsula which separates Hero Bay and Barclay Bay on the north coast of Livingston Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The cape was named by Edward Bransfield in 1820 after Captain William H. Shirreff, the British commanding officer in the Pacific at that time.

The seasonal scientific field station Doctor Guillermo Mann Base has been operated by Chile since 1991 and the Shirreff Base by the USA since 1996.

Description

Situated on a small, 3.22 km2 (1.24 sq mi)[1] ice-free peninsula forming the northern extremity of Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula, which is protected by the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources Ecosystem Monitoring Programme and requires a permit to enter.[2] It is 24 km north-east of Essex Point, 34 km west-south-west of Williams Point and 21 km north-west of Siddins Point. Lying also 809 km south-south-east of Cape Horn, Cape Shirreff is the locality in the Antarctic Treaty area that is closest to a non-Antarctic territory.[3]

Fauna

The cape is an important breeding site for Antarctic fur seals

The cape has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a large breeding colony of up to about 10,000 pairs of chinstrap penguins. Other birds nesting at the site in smaller numbers include gentoo penguins, kelp gulls, brown skuas, snowy sheathbills, Antarctic terns, imperial shags, Wilson's and black-bellied storm petrels, and Cape petrels. The site also contains the largest number of breeding Antarctic fur seals in the Antarctic Peninsula region.[4]

Antarctic Specially Protected Area

The cape, with nearby San Telmo Island, has also been designated an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA 149) for the diversity of its plant and animal life, especially its penguin and fur seal breeding colonies.[5]

Maps

See also

Notes

  1. ^ L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands. Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2009. ISBN 978-954-92032-6-4
  2. ^ "Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 149 Cape Shirreff and San Telmo Island" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
  3. ^ British mapping in 1920, 1922, 1931 and 1968, American in 1821, Spanish in 1861, Argentine in 1953, 1957 and 1980, Chilean in 1971 and detailed mapping in 2004. Bulgarian mapping in 2005, 2009 and 2017
  4. ^ "Cape Robertson, Laurie Island". BirdLife data zone: Important Bird Areas. BirdLife International. 2012. Archived from the original on 2007-07-10. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  5. ^ "Cape Shirreff and San Telmo Island, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands" (PDF). Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 149: Measure 2, Annex H. Antarctic Treaty Secretariat. 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2013-10-02.

References

62°27′32″S 60°47′19″W / 62.45889°S 60.78861°W / -62.45889; -60.78861

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