MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Environmentalists call for conservation measures in South Sandwich Islands area
Environmental groups are coercing U.K. to protect and preserve one of the most remote area of the Antarctic. The South Sandwich Islands, on the edge of Antarctic remains rugged and uninhabited. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules“ ....one of the most remote area of the Antarctic. The South Sandwich Islands, on the edge of Antarctic ...”
Sep 30th, 2017 - 03:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Rubbish. The South Sandwich islands (latitude 54 S) are well into the Southern Temperate Zone, far from Antarctica, and are much more accessible than the Antarctic.
Antarctica is to the south of latitude 66° 33´ 39”. North of that is the Southern Temperate Zone.
Should we say that Ushuaia (latitude 54.9 S) is in Antarctica?
And I thought only the Americans were bad at geography.
”The South Sandwich Islands (Spanish: Islas Sandwich del Sur) comprise 11 mostly volcanic islands (excluding tiny satellite islands and offshore rocks), with some active volcanoes. They form an island arc running north-south in the region 56°18'–59°27'S, 26°23'–28°08'W, between about 350 miles (300 nmi; 560 km) and 500 miles (430 nmi; 800 km) southeast of South Georgia.”
Oct 01st, 2017 - 12:19 pm - Link - Report abuse -1The Antarctic treaty covers everything south of 60°S, so yes they are on the edge of that area.
DT you are referring to a “ treaty area” and not a geographic definition. If NATO elected to extend its authority to latitude 60 S, would the Falkland Islands thus become geographically located in the North Atlantic?
Oct 02nd, 2017 - 02:23 am - Link - Report abuse -1Try to understand the difference between what is geographic, and what is political in nature.
I think it's pretty obvious the environmentalists mentioned were referring to the treaty area, within which everything is protected anyway. It was you who choose to interpret it as meaning continental Antarctica, and got the latitude of the South Sandwich Islands wrong to boot.
Oct 02nd, 2017 - 10:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And if NATO extended its authority to 60°S, it wouldn't change any geography, but they might want to change their name to just 'ATO'.
Corrections - South Sandwich islands run about 56 to about 59 deg S latitude and the Antarctic Circle is at about 66 33 S. So the islands range around 800-1100 km from Antarctica.
Oct 03rd, 2017 - 01:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0A bit of silliness, like saying that Inverness and Aberdeen are in the Arctic, or that the Falklands are argentine.
Heh, that's not nearly as silly as saying that the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula is not in Antarctica because it is outside the Antarctic circle. :)
Oct 03rd, 2017 - 12:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And I already posted the correct latitudes of the islands above. Be honest, would you have bothered commenting if you had checked their true latitudes first?
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