Satellite image of Roosevelt Island |
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Roosevelt Island |
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Antarctica |
| Area | 7,500 km2 (2,900 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 91st |
| Length | 130 km (81 mi) |
| Width | 65 km (40.4 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 550 m (1,800 ft) |
| Country | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Data not available |
| Additional information | |
| Claimed by New Zealand as part of the Ross Dependency. Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System | |
Roosevelt Island is an ice-covered island, about 130 km (81 mi) long in a NW-SE direction, 65 km (40 mi) wide and about 7,500 km2 (2,896 sq mi) in area, lying in the eastern part of the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica. Its central ridge rises to about 550 m (1,804 ft) above sea level, but this and all other elevations of the island are completely covered by ice, so that the island is invisible at ground level.
The existence and extent of the island is made clear by examination of how the ice flows above it.[1] It was named by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in 1934 for Franklin D. Roosevelt, then President of the United States. Byrd was the leader of the expedition that discovered the island.[2]
Roosevelt Island lies within the boundaries of the Ross Dependency, New Zealand's Antarctic claim.