The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica.
The Antarctic Peninsula is part of the larger peninsula of West Antarctica, protruding from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of the Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet that covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands; these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level. They are joined by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, is about away across the Drake Passage.
The Antarctic Peninsula is in area and 80% ice-covered.Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet
The marine ecosystem around the western continental shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has been subjected to rapid climate change. Over the past 50 years, the warm, moist maritime climate of the northern WAP has shifted south. This climatic change increasingly displaces the once dominant cold, dry continental Antarctic climate. This regional warming has caused multi-level responses in the marine ecosystem such as increased heat transport, decreased sea ice extent and duration, local declines in ice-dependent Adélie penguins, increase in ice-tolerant gentoo and chinstrap penguins, accelerated greening due to the spread of moss, alterations in phytoplankton and zooplankton community composition as well as changes in krill recruitment, abundance and availability to predators.
The Antarctic Peninsula is currently dotted with numerous research stations, and nations have made multiple claims of sovereignty. The peninsula is part of disputed and overlapping claims by Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom. None of these claims have international recognition and, under the Antarctic Treaty System, the respective countries do not attempt to enforce their claims. The British claim, however, is recognised by Australia, France, New Zealand, and Norway. Argentina has the most bases and personnel stationed on the peninsula.
History
Discovery and naming
The most likely first sighting of the Antarctic Peninsula, and therefore also of any part of the Antarctic mainland, was on 27 January 1820 by an expedition of the Imperial Russian Navy led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. But the party did not recognize as the mainland what they thought was an icefield covered by small hillocks.
Three days later, on 30 January 1820, Edward Bransfield and William Smith, with a British expedition, were the first to chart part of the Antarctic Peninsula. This area was later to be called Trinity Peninsula and is the extreme northeast portion of the peninsula. The next confirmed sighting was in 1832 by John Biscoe, a British explorer, who named the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula as Graham Land.
The first European to land on the continent is also disputed. A 19th-century seal hunter, John Davis, was almost certainly the first. But, sealers were secretive about their movements and their logbooks were deliberately unreliable, to protect any new sealing grounds from competition.
Between 1901 and 1904, Otto Nordenskjöld led the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, one of the first expeditions to explore parts of Antarctica. They landed on the Antarctic Peninsula in February 1902, aboard the ship Antarctic, which sank not far from the peninsula. All crew were rescued by an Argentine ship. The British Graham Land expedition between 1934 and 1937 carried out aerial surveys using a de Havilland Fox Moth aircraft, and concluded that Graham Land was not an archipelago but a peninsula.
Agreement on the name "Antarctic Peninsula" by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names and UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1964 resolved a long-standing difference over the use of the United States' name "Palmer Peninsula" or the British name "Graham Land" for this geographic feature. This dispute was resolved by making Graham Land the part of the Antarctic Peninsula northward of a line between Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz; and Palmer Land the part southward of that line, which is roughly 69° S. Palmer Land is named for the United States seal hunter Nathaniel Palmer. The Chilean name for the feature, O'Higgins Land, is in honor of Bernardo O'Higgins, the Chilean patriot and Antarctic visionary. Most other Spanish-speaking countries call it la Península Antártica, though Argentina also officially refers to this as Tierra de San Martín; as of 2018 Argentina has more bases and personnel in the peninsula than any other nation.
Other portions of the peninsula are named by and after the various expeditions that discovered them, including the Bowman, Black, Danco, Davis, English, Fallières, Nordenskjöld, Loubet, and Wilkins Coasts.
Research stations
The first Antarctic research stations were established during World War II by a British military operation, Operation Tabarin.
The 1950s saw a marked increase in the number of research bases as Britain, Chile and Argentina competed to make claims over the same area. Meteorology and geology were the primary research subjects.
Since the peninsula has the mildest climate in Antarctica, the highest concentration of research stations on the continent can be found there, or on the many nearby islands, and it is the part of Antarctica most often visited by tour vessels and yachts. Occupied bases include Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, Bellingshausen Station, Carlini Base, Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station, Palmer Station, Rothera Research Station, and San Martín Base. Today on the Antarctic Peninsula there are many abandoned scientific and military bases. Argentina's Esperanza Base was the birthplace of Emilio Marcos Palma, the first person to be born in Antarctica.
Oil spill The grounding of the Argentine ship the ARA Bahía Paraíso and subsequent oil spill occurred near the Antarctic Peninsula in 1989.
Geology
Antarctica was once part of the Gondwana supercontinent. Outcrops from this time include Ordovician and Devonian granites and gneiss found in the Scar Inlet and Joerg Peninsula, while the Carboniferous-Triassic Trinity Peninsula Group are sedimentary rocks that outcrop in Hope Bay and Prince Gustav Channel. Ring of Fire volcanic rocks erupted in the Jurassic, with the breakup of Gondwana, and outcrop in eastern Graham Land as volcanic ash deposits. Volcanism along western Graham Land dates from the Cretaceous to present times, and outcrops are found along the Gerlache Strait, the Lemaire Channel, Argentine Islands, and Adelaide Island. These rocks in western Graham Land include andesite lavas and granite from the magma, and indicate Graham Land was a continuation of the Andes. This line of volcanoes are associated with subduction of the Phoenix Plate. Metamorphism associated with this subduction is evident in the Scotia Metamorphic Complex, which outcrops on Elephant Island, along with Clarence and Smith Islands of the South Shetland Islands. The Drake Passage opened about 30 Ma as Antarctica separated from South America. The South Shetland Island separated from Graham Land about 4 Ma as a volcanic rift formed within the Bransfield Strait. Three dormant submarine volcanoes along this rift include The Axe, Three Sisters, and Orca. Deception Island is an active volcano at the southern end of this rift zone. Notable fossil locations include the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Fossil Bluff Group of Alexander Island, Early Cretaceous sediments in Byers Peninsula on Livingston Island, and the sediments on Seymour Island, which include the Cretaceous extinction.
Geography
The peninsula is very mountainous, its highest peaks rising to about . Notable peaks on the peninsula include Deschanel Peak, Mounts Castro, Coman, Gilbert, Jackson, William, Owen, Scott, and Hope, which is the highest point at ,New satellite imagery reveals new highest Antarctic Peninsula Mountain British Antarctic Survey, 11 December 2017. These mountains are considered to be a continuation of the Andes of South America, with a submarine spine or ridge connecting the two. This is the basis for the position advanced by Chile and Argentina for their territorial claims. The Scotia Arc is the island arc system that links the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula to those of Tierra del Fuego.
There are various volcanoes in the islands around the Antarctic Peninsula. This volcanism is related to extensional tectonics in Bransfield Rift to the west and Larsen Rift to the east.
The landscape of the peninsula is typical Antarctic tundra. The peninsula has a sharp elevation gradient, with glaciers flowing into the Larsen Ice Shelf, which experienced significant breakup in 2002. Other ice shelves on the peninsula include the George VI, Wilkins, Wordie and Bach Ice Shelves. The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf lies to the east of the peninsula.
Islands along the peninsula are mostly ice-covered and connected to the land by pack ice. Separating the peninsula from nearby islands are the Antarctic Sound, Erebus and Terror Gulf, George VI Sound, Gerlache Strait and the Lemaire Channel. The Lemaire Channel is a popular destination for tourist cruise ships that visit Antarctica. Further to the west lies the Bellingshausen Sea and in the north is the Scotia Sea. The Antarctic Peninsula and Cape Horn create a funneling effect, which channels the winds into the relatively narrow Drake Passage.
Hope Bay, at , is near the northern extremity of the peninsula, Prime Head, at 63°13′S. Near the tip at Hope Bay is Sheppard Point. The part of the peninsula extending northeastwards from a line connecting Cape Kater to Cape Longing is called the Trinity Peninsula. Brown Bluff is a rare tuya and Sheppard Nunatak is found here also. The Airy, Seller, Fleming and Prospect Glaciers form the Forster Ice Piedmont along the west coast of the peninsula. Charlotte Bay, Hughes Bay and Marguerite Bay are all on the west coast as well.
On the east coast is the Athene Glacier; the Arctowski and Åkerlundh Nunataks are both just off the east coast. A number of smaller peninsulas extend from the main Antarctic Peninsula, including Hollick-Kenyon Peninsula and Prehn Peninsula at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. Also located here are the Scaife Mountains. The Eternity Range is found in the middle of the peninsula. Other geographical features include Avery Plateau, the twin towers of Una Peaks.
In March 2025, scientists reported the discovery of a thriving marine ecosystem under where a iceberg the size of Chicago had been before breaking off from the George VI Ice Shelf around 2020. More than below, the seafloor showed a flourishing ecosystem including several new species scientists discovered during their research.
Climate