Stonington Island is a rocky island lying 1 mile northeast of Neny Island in the eastern part of Marguerite Bay, off the west coast of Graham Land. Stonington Island is located at . Stonington Island, 0.4 miles long from northwest to southeast and 0.2 miles wide formerly connected by a drifted snow slope to Northeast Glacier on the mainland. Stonington Island was chosen as the site for the East Base of the United States Antarctic Service (USAS) Expedition (1939–1941) and named after Stonington, Connecticut, home port of the sloop Hero in which Captain Nathaniel Palmer sighted the Antarctic continent in 1820.[1]
The base was also home to the British Antarctic Survey's Base E, the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, and was the base of operations for many historic Antarctic peninsula surveying missions in the 1940s. Base E was occupied through February 1975, and was cleaned up and repaired in 1992.[2]
The huts are protected under the Antarctic Treaty.[3]
Climate data for Stonington Islands | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 6 (43) |
7 (45) |
8 (46) |
7 (45) |
4 (39) |
7 (45) |
4 (39) |
4 (39) |
5 (41) |
6 (43) |
8 (46) |
7 (45) |
8 (46) |
Average high °C (°F) | 3 (37) |
1 (34) |
−2 (28) |
−4 (25) |
−6 (21) |
−8 (18) |
−8 (18) |
−9 (16) |
−8 (18) |
−4 (25) |
−3 (27) |
2 (36) |
−3.8 (25.1) |
Average low °C (°F) | −3 (27) |
−4 (25) |
−8 (18) |
−10 (14) |
−14 (7) |
−17 (1) |
−18 (0) |
−19 (−2) |
−16 (3) |
−13 (9) |
−9 (16) |
−3 (27) |
−11.2 (11.9) |
Record low °C (°F) | −12 (10) |
−11 (12) |
−35 (−31) |
−27 (−17) |
−36 (−33) |
−37 (−35) |
−36 (−33) |
−37 (−35) |
−39 (−38) |
−29 (−20) |
−20 (−4) |
−13 (9) |
−39 (−38) |
Precipitation mm (inches) | 10 (0.39) |
15 (0.59) |
25 (0.98) |
25 (0.98) |
43 (1.69) |
28 (1.1) |
33 (1.3) |
25 (0.98) |
41 (1.61) |
43 (1.69) |
23 (0.91) |
5 (0.2) |
316 (12.44) |
Avg. precipitation days | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 71 |
Source: [1] |