View source for Berkner Island

{{short description|Ice rise in the British Antarctic Territory, Antarctica}}
{{Infobox islands
| name             = Berkner Island
| image_name       = Berkner Island SAT.png
| image_caption    = LIMA Satellite image of Berkner Island, Antarctica 
| image_map        = Berkner Island - Weddell Sea, BAT.svg
| map              = Antarctica
| map_caption      = Location of Berkner Island in the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf
| nickname         = 
| location         = [[Antarctica]]
| coordinates      = {{coord|79|30|S|47|30|W|scale:4000000_source:GNIS|display=inline,title}}
| archipelago      = 
| total_islands    = 
| major_islands    = 
| area_km2         = 44000
| rank             = 31st
| length_km        = 320
| width_km         = 150
| highest_mount    = Thyssenhöhe
| elevation_m      = 869
| population       = 0
| population_as_of = 2000
| density_km2      = 
| ethnic_groups    = 
| country          = None
| treaty_system    = [[Antarctic Treaty System]]
}}

'''Berkner Island''' (also known as the '''Berkner Ice Rise''' or as '''Hubley Island''') is an [[Antarctic]] [[ice rise]], where bedrock below sea level has caused the surrounding ice sheet to create a dome. If the ice cap were removed, the island would be underwater.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://earthshots.usgs.gov/Filchner/Filchnertext |title=Flichner Ice Shelf |access-date=2012-05-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015011504/http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Filchner/Filchnertext |archive-date=2011-10-15 }}</ref> Berkner Island is completely ice-covered and is about {{convert|320|km}} long and {{convert|150|km}} wide, with an area of {{convert|44000|km2|abbr=on}}. It is surrounded by the [[Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf]]. The northernmost point of the Berkner is about {{convert|20|km}} from the open sea. It lies in the overlapping portion of the [[Argentine Antarctica|Argentine]] and the [[British Antarctic Territory|British]] Antarctic territorial claims.

The island rises to {{convert|869|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} ({{convert|975|m|ft|-1|abbr=on|disp=or}}, according to other sources) and separates the [[Ronne Ice Shelf]] from the [[Filchner Ice Shelf]].  It is characterized by two domes, ''Reinwarthhöhe'' in the north ({{convert|698|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}), and ''Thyssenhöhe'' in the south ({{convert|869|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}). It is indented by three [[bay]]s on the eastern side, which are, from north to south, the [[McCarthy Inlet]], the [[Roberts Inlet]], and the [[Spilhaus Inlet]]. The southern tip is named the [[UK_Antarctic_Place-Names_Committee|Mulvaney Promontory]]. [[Gould Bay]] is on the north coast. Berkner Island is about {{convert|150|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} west of [[Luitpold Coast]], [[Coats Land]], the closest mainland of [[Eastern Antarctica]]. The [[Hemmen Ice Rise]] is {{convert|17|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} off the northwest corner of Berkner Island.

==History==
Berkner Island was discovered by members of the United States-[[International Geophysical Year]] party from [[Ellsworth Station]] during the 1957–1958 season. It was named by the [[United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names]] after [[United States|American]] physicist [[Lloyd Berkner]], engineer with the [[Byrd Antarctic Expedition]] (1928–1930).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=107766|title = SCAR Composite Gazetteer}}</ref>

Since 1990, Berkner Island has been a jumping-off point for a number of long-distance polar expeditions. [[Ben Saunders (explorer)|Ben Saunders]] has planned an unsupported journey from the island to the South Pole and back,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.areteclub.com/newsite/portfolio/ben-saunders |title=Ben Saunders – "Climate Change: Government policies and the impact on the ground" « Areté Club |access-date=2012-01-02 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720115316/http://www.areteclub.com/newsite/portfolio/ben-saunders |archive-date=2012-07-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and it was the start point of [[Henry Worsley (explorer)|Henry Worsley]]'s attempt to cross the Antarctic in 2015–16.<ref>[http://shackletonsolo.org/bio/  Biography, ''ShackletonSolo.org''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201140512/http://shackletonsolo.org/bio/ |date=2016-02-01 }}. Retrieved 26 January 2016</ref>

In the 1994–1995 field season, the [[British Antarctic Survey]] (BAS), [[Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research|Alfred Wegener Institute]] and the Forschungsstelle für Physikalische Glaziologie of the [[University of Münster]] cooperated in a project drilling [[Ice core|ice cores]] on the North (''Reinwarthhöhe'') and South (''Thyssenhöhe'') Domes of the island.<ref>[http://gcmd.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Metadata.do?Portal=GCMD&KeywordPath=Parameters NASA.gov]{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}|PALEOCLIMATE|LAND+RECORDS|BOREHOLES&OrigMetadataNode=GCMD&EntryId=89738616867620&MetadataView=Full&MetadataType=0&lbnode=mdlb3</ref> Between 2002 and 2005 a {{Convert|948|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} core was drilled through to the bed at ''Thyssenhöhe'' by a team from BAS and the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environnement, [[Grenoble]],<ref name=BerknerDriling>{{cite journal |last1=Mulvaney |first1=R. |last2=Alemany |first2=O.|last3=Possenti |first3=P. |title=The Berkner Island (Antarctica) ice-core drilling project |journal=[[Annals of Glaciology]] |volume=47 |date=2007 |issue=1 |page=115 |doi=10.3189/172756407786857758 |bibcode=2007AnGla..47..115M |s2cid=55854112 |access-date=14 December 2020 |url=https://www.igsoc.org/annals/47/a47a024.pdf}}</ref> and radar work in 2005 and 2010-11 confirmed the existence of the [[Raymond Effect]].<ref name=FletcherGroundRES>{{cite journal |last1=Hindmarsh |first1=R.C.A. |last2=King |first2=E.C. |last3=Mulvaney |first3=R. |last4=Corr |first4=H.F.J. |last5=Hiess |first5=G. |last6=Gillet-Chaulet |first6=F. |display-authors=3 |title=Flow at ice-divide triple junctions: 2. Three-dimensional views of isochrone architecture from ice-penetrating radar surveys |journal=[[Journal of Geophysical Research]] |volume=116 |issue=F02024 |url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2009JF001622 |date=2011 |access-date=19 August 2020 |doi=10.1029/2010JF001785|hdl=20.500.11820/68fe4f33-75c6-4e8f-b511-2201147fde24 |s2cid=55008674 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Fourdivides14">{{cite journal |last1=Kingslake |first1=J. |last2=Hindmarsh |first2=R.C.A |last3=Aðalgeirsdóttir |first3=G. |last4=Conway |first4=H. |last5=Corr |first5=H.F.J. |last6=Gillet-Chaulet |first6=F. |last7=Martín |first7=C. |last8=King |first8=E.C. |last9=Mulvaney |first9=R. |last10=Pritchard |first10=H.D. |display-authors=3 |title=Full-depth englacial vertical ice-sheet velocities measured using phase-sensitive radar |journal=[[Journal of Geophysical Research]] |year=2014 |volume=119 |issue=12 |pages=2604–2618 |doi=10.1002/2014JF003275 |bibcode=2014JGRF..119.2604K |s2cid=129824379 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Important Bird Area==
A 500&nbsp;ha site on fast ice {{Convert|5|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} north of the area where the Ronne Ice Shelf joins the north-western coast of Berkner Island, about {{Convert|90|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} to the northwest of [[Gould Bay]], has been identified as an [[Important Bird Area]] by [[BirdLife International]] because it supports an [[emperor penguin]] colony. The size of the colony was estimated as about 8,000 individual birds, based on 2009 satellite imagery.<ref name=bli> {{cite web |url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/berkner-island-northwest-(gould-bay)-iba-antarctica |title= Berkner Island northwest (Gould Bay)|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 25 October 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Composite Antarctic Gazetteer]]
* [[List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands#List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S|List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S]]
* [[Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research|SCAR]]
* [[Territorial claims in Antarctica]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{usgs-gazetteer|id=1273}}

<!--{{World's largest islands}} not an island! but an ice rise!-->
{{commons category|Berkner Island}}
{{Important Bird Areas of Antarctica}}
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[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Antarctica]]
[[Category:Penguin colonies]]
[[Category:Berkner Island| ]]
[[Category:British Antarctic Territory]]
[[Category:Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf]]
[[Category:Ice rises of Queen Elizabeth Land]]