por_021.fm


204

 

Polar Research 26 

 

2007 204 © 2007 The Author

 

Correspondence

 

Robert K. Headland, Scott Polar Research Institute, Lensfield Road, 

Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK. E-mail: rkh10@hermes.cam.ac.uk.

 

Letter to the editor

 

Changes at Peter I Øy

Peter I Øy, a remote Norwegian territory, is one of the
most rarely visited of the peri-Antarctic islands. Since
the last Norwegian research visit, in 1987, approxi-
mately 10 tourist ships have been to the island, and
about half of these have made landings. Where practical,
reports have been sent to the Norwegian Polar Institute
and other interested parties. I have made five visits,
landing during four of them, while employed by Quark
Expeditions to lecture on Antarctic history and geogra-
phy aboard 

 

Kapitan Khlebnikov

 

. My most recent visit, on
21 November 2006, demonstrated the continual geologi-
cal erosion of the coast. In 2004 at Pingvinholet there
was a splendid triple natural arch: the outer arch was
formed by black basaltic deposits, and the inner one was
capped by a stratum of red oxidized larva. The third arch
was the result of a basalt flake slipping and propping
itself against the middle column. The sea penetrated
through all three arches so that it would have been pos-
sible, although reckless, to take a small boat through the
largest of them. In late 2006, while sailing from South
America to New Zealand near the Antarctic coast, I
noted the entire inner section had collapsed. Only one
large arch now remains and this no longer admits the
sea. The collapse of both the cap of red larva and sup-
porting pillar has formed a pile of rubble several metres
above the sea.

In the vicinity is Framnæsodden, where the island was
claimed for King Haakon VII on 2 February 1929 and a
hut was deployed. Another was placed there on 10 Feb-
ruary 1948. It was possible to examine the flatter portion
of the hexagonal basaltic cape where the huts had stood,
but no trace of either of the structures remains. Landings

were made on the steep beach just to the south of
Pingvinholet, where about 90 people went ashore for
brief periods. The upper reaches of the site, which is the
outer part of the Pingvinholet arch, were occupied, as
usual, by several chinstrap penguins (

 

Pygoscelis antarctica

 

),
and above that Antarctic fulmars (

 

Fulmaris glacialoides

 

)
were abundant. During the visit several large boulders
dropped from the vertical cliffs, and several large, freshly
fallen, ones lay on the beach. The visitors kept well
away from these cliffs. The natural arch, perhaps better
described as a natural tunnel, owing to its length, at
Tsarsporten has remained unchanged since previous vis-
its. The small beach immediately to its north is usually a
haul-out for elephant seals (

 

Mirounga leonina

 

). Remains
of the automatic meteorological station may still be seen
on the sea stack Tvistein.

 

What remains of Pingvinholet, photographed on 21 November 2006

(Robert K. Headland).