ELEPHANT ISLAND - 13 December 2020 - When explorer Ernest Shackleton and the crew of Endurance lost their ship to crushing pack ice in the Weddell Sea
ELEPHANT ISLAND - 13 December 2020 - When explorer Ernest Shackleton and the crew of Endurance lost their ship to crushing pack ice in the Weddell Sea in 1915, their chances of survival seemed dim. The 28 men spent months drifting on ice floes and traversing the Southern Ocean in small lifeboats until they finally spotted land. The hunk of rock and ice was not the welcoming refuge they hoped for, but it was enough. Shackleton and the crew of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition landed on the mountainous, ice-covered island today known as Elephant Island. Some say Elephant Island got its name from the sighting of elephant seals along its shores; others suggest it comes from its appearance as an elephant head. But Shackleton’s captain claimed it was a nickname given by the crew: “Hell-of-an-Island.” The image above shows a rare, cloud-free view of the remote island on December 13, 2020, as captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. The highest points, Mount Pendragon (970 meters or 3,200 feet) and Mount Elder (945 meters or 3,100 feet), are located on the southern side. In the center, Endurance glacier collects most of the ice flowing in the southeast direction. Elephant Island is located about 250 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Geologically, the island is part of the Scotia Plate, which was formed from continental fragments that once formed a land bridge between South America and Antarctica. The rocky island is comprised of green and blue phyllites, blueschists, and greenschists along the coast and in ridges - Photo: Geopix/NASA/Landsat
Size: 6344px × 4513px
Location: Elephant Island
Photo credit: © Geopix / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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