Ross Island
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For a similarly named island near Antarctica, see James Ross Island.
Ross Island is an island formed by three volcanoes in the Ross Sea by Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound at . Its area is 2,460 km². (950 sq mi.); only a small portion of the island is free of ice and snow. Sir James Clark Ross discovered it in 1841, and it was later named in honour of him by Robert F. Scott. The dormant volcano Terror (3230 m) and Erebus (3794 m), the planet's southernmost active volcano, are situated on the island. They were named by Ross after his ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The third highest elevation is Mount Byrd, named after American explorer Richard E. Byrd.
Despite its tiny size, Ross Island is the world's 9th highest island.
Ross Island was the base for many of the early expeditions to Antarctica. It was and still is the southernmost island reachable by sea. Huts built by Scott's and Shackleton's expeditions are still standing on the island, preserved as historical sites.
Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, which is claimed by New Zealand, whose claim is unrecognised by most other states.
Today Ross Island is home to New Zealand's Scott Base, and the largest Antarctic settlement, the U.S. Antarctic Program's McMurdo Station. Greenpeace established World Park Base on the island and it ran for five years, from 1987 to 1992.
[edit] Dinosaurs
In December 2003, paleontologists from St. Mary's College in California discovered the bones of a theropod dinosaur they nicknamed "Naze". The fast, carnivorous dinosaur, related to the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, was about 1.8 m (6 ft) tall, and weighed 300 lb (135 kg), which made it closer in size to the raptors of Jurassic Park fame than the coyote-sized Velociraptor.
