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20-622: Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in George V Land , Antarctica . It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson , who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney , a patron of the expedition. The cape was the site of the expedition's main base. Called by Mawson "the windiest place on Earth", the site experiences fierce katabatic winds . The site, including Mawson's Huts , Boat Harbour and

40-403: A Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane (the first aircraft type to be built by Vickers ) was used briefly as a "propeller driven snow tractor" and then abandoned, as the pistons seized up due to the cold. On New Year's Day, 2010, the carpenter of the latest expedition to Cape Denison came across small (150mm) pieces of the fuselage tubing in the harbour at a very low tide (January 2010 was a month with

60-455: A 'blue moon'). The pieces found were cut from the final section of the airframe and constituted the fittings for a rudder. An attempt had been made by Mawson's team to fabricate a metal ice rudder. This device replaced the original rudder (which did not work at the low speeds attained by the air tractor). The original rudder is preserved in Mawson's Hut at Cape Denison, while the ice rudder is in

80-460: A large iceberg trapped the colony, making access to the sea difficult and threatening the lives of all the penguins. By 2013, only 10,000 remained and by 2016, they were reported in danger of being "wiped out". Media reports were exaggerated however and in response, the authors released this update: It is important to recognise that this study focuses on the Adélie penguin colonies at Cape Denison and

100-469: A more precise position found. However, this work has been delayed, in 2010-11 by logistical constraints, and in 2011-12 and 2012-13 by the presence of giant iceberg B9B which has locked in fast ice and prevented the French Antarctic supply vessel L'Astrolabe from entering Commonwealth Bay. Cape Denison once supported a large colony of Adélie penguins with perhaps 150,000 members. In 2010,

120-660: A specific request from the European Economic Community , Birdlife International drew up a list of sites to be protected as a matter of priority. In 1989, a repertoire of IBAs of Europe was released. At first the official name of this type of site was Important Bird Area , hence the acronym IBA, then at the BirdLife World Congress held in Canada in 2014 it was decided to adopt the name Important Bird and Biodiversity Area , without changing

140-462: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Important Bird Area IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International . There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the program is administered by

160-592: Is an open bay about 48 km (30 mi) wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica . It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson , who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay. The bay was named by the Expedition after the Commonwealth of Australia . Commonwealth Bay is listed in both

180-399: Is unlikely many if any adult penguins have died as a result of this stranding event. We found very few, perhaps no pre-breeding birds at Cape Denison and, if as we predict, few if any young birds prospecting for a place to breed in future are visiting these colonies the local colonies could become extinct within the breeding life of an Adelie penguins (<16 years) if young birds do not replace

200-606: The Guinness Book of World Records and the Eighth Edition of the National Geographic Atlas as the windiest place on Earth, with winds regularly exceeding 240 kilometres (150 mi) per hour and an average annual wind speed of 80 kilometres (50 mi) per hour. Storms are caused by katabatic wind , a concentrated flow of cold air moving along the steep surface of the ice shield towards

220-483: The National Audubon Society . Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. In 1985, following

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240-622: The Antarctic Division at Hobart, Tasmania. The remains of the fuselage are probably still buried under the ice near Mawson's Huts . The ice is 3m deep and the remains are about 30m from the edge of the harbour. An attempt was to be made in December 2010 to excavate the site – a similar excavation in 2008 nearby did not find any remains, but since then more sophisticated equipment ( magnetometer , ground penetrating radar, metal detector, differential GPS, ice drilling) has been used and

260-495: The MacKellar Islets, which has been well known, and importantly, well studied over the past century. The study reported here identified that the impact of the iceberg B09B on the penguins since 2010. The number of penguins breeding at these colonies has declined markedly since estimates were first made 100 years ago. However our study concerns only the impact B09B and the associated fast ice that has built up between it and

280-514: The acronym. IBAs are determined by an internationally agreed set of criteria. Specific IBA thresholds are set by regional and national governing organizations. To be listed as an IBA, a site must satisfy at least one of the following rating criteria: The site qualifies if it is known, estimated or thought to hold a population of a species categorized by the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered , Endangered or Vulnerable . In general,

300-610: The coast line. Despite the extreme weather, the coast of the Bay is an important breeding area for Antarctic petrels , emperor penguins , and Adelie penguins , which are preyed on by leopard seals . From 2011 to 2016, the population of a colony of Adelie penguins living on the bay crashed from 160,000 to 10,000. A giant iceberg the size of Rome got stuck, leaving the colony effectively landlocked. 66°54′S 142°40′E  /  66.900°S 142.667°E  / -66.900; 142.667 This George V Land location article

320-520: The historic artefacts contained within its waters, has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 77), following a proposal by Australia to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting . The Air-tractor sledge , the first aeroplane to be brought to Antarctica (in 1912) was stationed at Cape Denison, although it never took to the air on the continent because it was damaged before being shipped there. The aircraft,

340-465: The land since the iceberg stranded in 2010. The penguins now have to commute about 65 km between colonies where they breed and the sea where they can feed. Many fewer penguins are now returning to the colonies to attempt to breed and of those that do return most fail to rear their chicks. We found hundreds of abandoned eggs and thousands of dead chicks. We did not suggest that thousands of adult penguins have died as some media reports suggest. In fact it

360-754: The old established breeders as they come to the end of their lives." "This iceberg stranding event only affects Adelie penguins in the Commonwealth Bay area, the millions of Adelie penguins breeding around the rest of Antarctica are not affected." The 102 ha colony site has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International . [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from "Denison, Cape" . Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . 67°0′S 142°40′E  /  67.000°S 142.667°E  / -67.000; 142.667 Commonwealth Bay Commonwealth Bay

380-505: The regular presence of a Critical or Endangered species, irrespective of population size, at a site may be sufficient for a site to qualify as an IBA. For Vulnerable species, the presence of more than threshold numbers at a site is necessary to trigger selection. The site forms one of a set selected to ensure that all restricted-range species of an Endemic Bird Area (EBA) or a Secondary Area (SA) are present in significant numbers in at least one site and preferably more. The site forms one of

400-418: The sea. The air flow is accelerated by the increasing gradient of the surface of ice and the cliff monolith at Cape Denison . In the summer there are periods of relative calm, but in the winter storms are especially strong and long lasting, and can start and end unexpectedly. An abrupt start and end to a storm might be accompanied by powerful whirlpools, and by expressive short-lived and fast-moving clouds along

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