  O'Brien Island Location in Antarctica | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Antarctica |
| Coordinates | 61°30′S55°58′W / 61.500°S 55.967°W /-61.500; -55.967 |
| Highest elevation | 540 m (1770 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Administered under theAntarctic Treaty System | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
O'Brien Island is a small rocky island in theSouth Shetland Islands ofAntarctica.[1] It lies 4 kilometres (2 nmi) south-west ofAspland Island and rises to 540 m. A strong marine channel, namedTasman Rip, runs between O'Brien Island andEadie Island.
The name dates back to the survey of the South Shetlands carried out by Edward Bransfield and William Smith in 1820, when it was applied to O'Brien, Eadie and Aspland Islands as a group. It is now established in international usage.[2]
The island has been identified as anImportant Bird Area (IBA) byBirdLife International because there are records (from 1977) of it supporting largebreeding colonies ofchinstrap penguins (21,000 pairs) andsouthern fulmars (8000 pairs).[3]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from"O'Brien Island".Geographic Names Information System.United States Geological Survey. | ThisSouth Shetland Islands location article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |