Coordinates: 66°44′S 48°35′E / 66.733°S 48.583°E / -66.733; 48.583 White Island is a 13-mile-long (21 km) and 5-mile-wide (8.0 km) ice-covered island in Enderby Land, Antarctica. 8-mile-wide (13 km) Styles Strait separates it from Sakellari Peninsula. Discovered and called Hvitøya ("White Island") by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen in January 1930, its existence was considered doubtful for a number of years but was confirmed by the Soviet expedition in the Lena in March 1957, and by ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) led by D.F. Styles in the Thala Dan in February 1960.
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or island:
“Retreat was out of hope,—
Behind, a sealed route,
Eternity’s white flag before,
And God at every gate.”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
“An island always pleases my imagination, even the smallest, as a small continent and integral portion of the globe. I have a fancy for building my hut on one. Even a bare, grassy isle, which I can see entirely over at a glance, has some undefined and mysterious charm for me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)