Berkner Island
Berkner Island (also called the Berkner Ice Rise or Hubley Island) is an ice rise, where bedrock below sea level makes the ice dome upward. If the ice cap melted, it would be under water. Berkner "Island" is high and completely ice-covered and about 320 km long and 150 km wide, with an area of 44000 km2. Berkner is surrounded by the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The northernmost point of the Berkner is about 20 km from the open sea. It lies in the overlapping portion of the Argentine and the British claims.
The island rises to 869 meters and separates the Ronne Ice Shelf from the Filchner Ice Shelf. It is characterized by two domes, Reinwarthhöhe in the north (698 meters), and Thyssenhöhe in the south (869 meters). It is indented by three bays on the eastern side, which are from north to south: McCarthy Inlet, Roberts Inlet, and Spilhouse Inlet. Gould Bay is on the north coast. Berkner Island is about 150 km west of Luitpold Coast, Coats Land, the closest mainland of Eastern Antarctica. 17 km off the northwest corner of Berkner Island is the Hemmen Ice Rise.
Discovery and name
Berkner Island was discovered by members of the United States-International Geophysical Year party at Ellsworth Station under the leadership of Capt. Finn Ronne, United States Navy Reserve, during the 1957-1958 season. Berkner Island was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for American physicist Lloyd Berkner, engineer with the Byrd Antarctic Expedition (1928–1930).