Palmer Land

Palmer Land (71°30′S 065°00′W / 71.500°S 65.000°W / -71.500; -65.000) is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica that lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names and the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee, in which the name Antarctic Peninsula was approved for the major peninsula of Antarctica, and the names Graham Land and Palmer Land for the northern and southern portions, respectively. The line dividing them is roughly 69° S.

The Antarctic Peninsula is shown at the left side of the map of Antarctica; Palmer Land (unlabeled) is visible between Graham Land and Marie Byrd Land

Boundaries

In its southern extreme, the Antarctic Peninsula stretches west, with Palmer Land eventually bordering Ellsworth Land along the 80° W line of longitude. Palmer Land is bounded in the south by the ice-covered Carlson Inlet, an arm of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, which crosses the 80° W line. This is the base of Cetus Hill.

This feature is named after Nathaniel Palmer, an American sealer who explored the Antarctic Peninsula area southward of Deception Island in the sloop Hero in November 1820.^[1]

Features

Mountain ranges and isolated peaks

Nunatuks

Aldebaran Rock (70°50′S 66°41′W / 70.833°S 66.683°W / -70.833; -66.683), a particularly conspicuous nunatak of bright red rock, located near the head of Bertram Glacier and 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Pegasus Mountains in western Palmer Land. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Aldebaran, an orange-colored star that is the brightest in the constellation of Taurus.