Deception Island is an active volcano in the South Shetland Islands, off the Antarctic Peninsula. It’s part of the British Antarctic Territory. 

Deception Island is the caldera of an active volcano. The volcano caused serious damage to local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969.  The island has a large, usually safe natural harbor called Port Foster.  The harbor is one of the best anchorages in the Antarctic. 

Deception Island has a unique landscape of: 

• Barren volcanic slopes 
• Steaming beaches 
• Ash-layered glaciers 

The island also has a distinctive horse-shoe shaped opening to the sea through a narrow channel at Neptune’s Bellows. 

Deception Island is home to: Seals, Seabirds, Penguins. 

The world’s largest colony of chinstrap penguins lives on the outside perimeter of the island’s circle. Nearly 400,000 birds live there, but it is strictly off limits to visitors. 

Deception Island was first authenticated sighted by the British sealers William Smith and Edward Bransfield in January 1820. It was named by the United States sealer Nathaniel Palmer later that year.

Why is Deception Island famous?

This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. The island previously held a whaling station. It is now a tourist destination with over 15,000 visitors per year. Two research stations are operated by Argentina and Spain during the summer season

What happened in Deception Island?

The island is classified as a “restless caldera with significant volcanic risk,” that could erupt at any time. Eruptions in 1968 and 1970 forced a British scientific research station to close, sending mud and ash through it and the nearby abandoned whaling station.

Who lives on Deception Island?

Seals, seabirds, and penguinslive on Deception Island and in its enclosed central lagoon. On the outside perimeter of the island’s circle, exposed to the sea, is the world’s largest colony of chinstrap penguins—nearly 400,000 birds live there, but it is strictly off limits to visitors

Why is it called Deception Island?

Palmer named it “Deception Island” on account of its outward deceptive appearance as a normal island, when the narrow entrance of Neptune’s Bellows revealed it rather to be a ring around a flooded caldera

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