continent palmer archipelago
The Antarctic ( US English , UK English or and or ) is a polar region , specifically the region around the Earth ' s South Pole , opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole . The Antarctic comprises in the strict sense the continent of ___MASK65___ and the island territories located on the Antarctic Plate . In a broader sense the Antarctic region include the ice shelves , waters , and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence , a zone approximately wide varying in latitude seasonally . The region covers some 20 % of the Southern Hemisphere , of which 5 . 5 % ( 14 million km ) is the surface area of the Antarctic continent itself . All of the land and ice shelves south of 60 ° S latitude are administrated under the Antarctic Treaty System . In a biogeographic sense , the Antarctic ecozone is one of eight ecozones of the Earth ' s land surface . John Biscoe ( 28 June 1794  1843 ) was an English mariner and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to have sighted the areas named Enderby Land and Graham Land along the coast of ___MASK65___ . The expedition also found a number of islands in the vicinity of Graham Land , including the Biscoe Islands that were named after him . The Drake Passage or Mar de Hoces  Sea of Hoces  is the body of water between ___MASK90___ ' s Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands of ___MASK65___ . It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean ( Scotia Sea ) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean . An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than , thus also known as continental glacier . The only current ice sheets are in ___MASK65___ and Greenland ; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum ( LGM ) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of North America , the Weichselian ice sheet covered northern Europe and the Patagonian Ice Sheet covered southern South America . Cape Adams is an abrupt rock scarp marking the south tip of Bowman Peninsula and forming the north side of the entrance to Gardner Inlet , on the east coast of Palmer Land in ___MASK65___ . It was discovered by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition ( RARE ), 1947  48 , under Ronne , and named by him for Lt . Charles J . Adams of the then USAAF , pilot with the expedition . The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre . Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula . The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast , Queen Maud Land . To the east of Cape Norvegia is the King Haakon VII Sea . Much of the southern part of the sea is covered by a permanent , massive ice shelf field , the Filchner - Ronne Ice Shelf ( not pack ice ). The sea is contained within the two overlapping Antarctic territorial claims of Argentina , ( Argentine ___MASK65___ ) and Britain ( British Antarctic Territory ), and also resides partially within the territorial claim of Chile ( Antarctic Chilean Territory ). At its widest the sea is around across , and its area is around . Various ice shelves , including the Filchner - Ronne Ice Shelf , fringe the Weddell sea . Some of the ice shelves on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula , which formerly covered roughly of the Weddell Sea , had completely disappeared by 2002 ; see " ___MASK65___ " at Retreat of glaciers since 1850 . Whilst a dramatic event , the area that disappeared was far smaller than the total area of ice shelf that remains . The Wilhelm Archipelago is an island archipelago off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in ___MASK65___ . The Philippines , officially the Republic of the Philippines , is a sovereign island country in Southeast ___MASK4___ situated in the western Pacific Ocean . It consists of about 7 , 641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south : Luzon , Visayas , and Mindanao . The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City , both part of Metro Manila . Bounded by the South China Sea on the west , the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest , the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north , Vietnam to the west , Palau to the east and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south . Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium , is a sovereign state in Western ___MASK64___ bordered by France , the Netherlands , Germany , Luxembourg , and the North Sea . It is a small , densely populated country which covers an area of and has a population of about 11 million people . Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin ___MASK64___ , Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups : the Dutch - speaking , mostly Flemish community , which constitutes about 59 % of the population , and the French - speaking , mostly Walloon population , which comprises 41 % of all Belgians . Additionally , there is a small group of German - speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area , and bordering Germany . ___MASK65___ ( US English , UK English or ) is Earth ' s southernmost continent . It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere , almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle , and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean . At , it is the fifth - largest continent . For comparison , ___MASK65___ is nearly twice the size of Australia . About 98 % of ___MASK65___ is covered by ice that averages in thickness , which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula . Palmer Archipelago , also known as Antarctic Archipelago , Archipiélago Palmer , Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln , is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula . It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anvers Island in the south . It is separated by the Gerlache and Bismarck straits from the Antarctic Peninsula and Wilhelm Archipelago respectively . Palmer Archipelago is located at 64 ° 15  S 62 ° 50  W . A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth . Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria , up to seven regions are commonly regarded as continents . Ordered from largest in size to smallest , they are : ___MASK4___ , Africa , North America , ___MASK90___ , ___MASK65___ , Europe , and Australia . In geology , areas of continental crust include regions covered with water . Anvers Island or Antwerp Island or Antwerpen Island or Isla Amberes is a high , mountainous island long , the largest in the Palmer Archipelago of ___MASK65___ . It was discovered by John Biscoe in 1832 and named in 1898 by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Adrien de Gerlache after the province of Antwerp in Belgium . It lies south - west of Brabant Island at the south - western end of the group . The south - western coastline of the island forms part of the Southwest Anvers Island and Palmer Basin Antarctic Specially Managed Area ( ASMA 7 ). Cormorant Island , an Important Bird Area , lies 1 km off the south coast . Cormorant Island is a 10 ha island lying in Bismarck Strait 1 km south of Anvers Island , east - south - east of Bonaparte Point , in the Palmer Archipelago of ___MASK65___ . It lies some 5 km to the south - east of the United States ' Palmer Station in Arthur Harbour on Anvers Island . It was shown on an Argentine government chart of 1954 , but not named . It was named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place - names Committee ( UK - APC ) in 1958 because of the large number of cormorants ( shags ) seen there . An island or isle is any piece of sub - continental land that is surrounded by water . Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets , skerries , cays or keys . An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait , and a small island off the coast may be called a holm . A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago , e . g . the Philippines . The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of ___MASK65___ , located at the base of the Southern Hemisphere . At the surface , it is the biggest , most prominent peninsula in ___MASK65___ as it extends from a line between Cape Adams ( Weddell Sea ) and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands . Beneath the ice sheet which covers it , the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands ; these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level . They are joined together by a grounded ice sheet . Tierra del Fuego , the southernmost tip of South America , lies only about away across the Drake Passage . Tower Island is an Antarctic island long and high , lying north - east of Trinity Island and marking the north - east extent of Palmer Archipelago . The Pearl Rocks lie off its west coast . ___MASK90___ is a continent located in the western hemisphere , mostly in the southern hemisphere , with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere . It is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas , which is the model used in nations that speak Romance languages . The reference to ___MASK90___ instead of other regions ( like Latin America or the Southern Cone ) has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics ( in particular , the rise of Brazil ). Trinity Island or Île de la Trinité or Isla Trinidad is an island long and wide . It lies east of Hoseason Island in the northern part of the Palmer Archipelago , ___MASK65___ . It was named by Otto Nordenskiöld , leader of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition ( 1901 - 1904 ) in commemoration of Edward Bransfield ' s " Trinity Land " of 1820 .