Cook Island, South Sandwich Islands in the context of "60th parallel south"

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⭐ Core Definition: Cook Island, South Sandwich Islands

Cook Island is the central and largest island of the Southern Thule island group, part of the South Sandwich Islands in the far south Atlantic Ocean. Southern Thule was discovered by a British expedition under Captain James Cook in 1775. Cook Island was named for Cook by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, which explored the South Sandwich islands in 1819–1820.

The island was surveyed in 1930 by Discovery Investigations (DI) personnel on Discovery II, who charted and named many of its features. Other names were later applied by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC).

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👉 Cook Island, South Sandwich Islands in the context of 60th parallel south

The 60th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees south of Earth's equatorial plane. No land lies on the parallel—it crosses nothing but ocean. The closest land is a group of rocks north of Coronation Island (Melson Rocks or Governor Islands) of the South Orkney Islands, which are about 54 km south of the parallel, and Thule Island and Cook Island of the South Sandwich Islands, which both are about 57 km north of the parallel (with Cook Island slightly closer).

The parallel marks the northern limit of the Southern Ocean (though some organisations and countries, notably Australia, have other definitions) and of the Antarctic Treaty System. It also marks the southern boundary of the South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone and the Latin American Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

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Cook Island, South Sandwich Islands in the context of Southern Thule

Southern Thule is a group of the three southernmost islands in the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean: Bellingshausen, Cook, and Thule (Morrell). It is a largely submerged volcano of which only the three islands emerge above sea level. Between Cook and Thule, and south of Bellingshausen, lie two submerged calderas; a third caldera is located on Thule. Cook Island is inactive and largely glaciated, while Bellingshausen and Thule feature active craters with fumarolic activity, and evidence of eruptions in the 20th century.

Around the fumaroles, vegetation consisting of mosses and lichens has grown. The islands are populated by penguins and seabirds which breed there. The islands were discovered in 1775 and are uninhabited. They are part of a marine protected area that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← 60th parallel south ← Southern Thule
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Southern Thule → South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands → Atlantic Ocean → James Cook → Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen → Discovery Investigations → RRS Discovery II → United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee →