Gerlache Island is the largest of the Rosenthal Islands lying off Gerlache Point[1] on the west coast of Anvers Island, in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was first roughly charted and named "Pointe de Gerlache" by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05, under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, for Lieutenant Adrien de Gerlache. As a result of surveys by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1956–58, this island is considered to be the feature named by Charcot; there is no prominent point in this vicinity which would be visible from seaward.[2]
Gerlache forms part of the Rosenthal Islands Important Bird Area (IBA), designated as such by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of gentoo penguins, with about 3000 pairs recorded there in 1987. It lies within ASMA 7 - Southwest Anvers Island and Palmer Basin.[3]
