The Beethoven Peninsula is a deeply indented, ice-covered peninsula, 60 mile long in a northeast-southwest direction and 60 mile wide at its broadest part, forming the southwest part of Alexander Island

Alexander Island

Alexander Island or Alexander I Island or Alexander I Land or Alexander Land is the largest island of Antarctica, with an area of lying in the Bellingshausen Sea west of the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. Alexander Island lies off...

, which lies off the southwestern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula

Antarctic Peninsula

The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....

. The Mendelssohn Inlet

Mendelssohn Inlet

Mendelssohn Inlet is an ice-filled inlet, 25 nautical miles long and 9 nautical miles wide, between Derocher peninsula and Eroica Peninsula on the north side of Beethoven Peninsula, Alexander Island. First seen from the air and roughly mapped by the United States Antarctic Service , 1939-41...

, the Brahms Inlet

Brahms Inlet

Brahms Inlet is an ice-filled inlet, long and wide, indenting the north side of Beethoven Peninsula on Alexander Island between Harris Peninsula and Derocher Peninsula. It was observed from the air and first mapped by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition , 1947–48, and re-mapped from the RARE...

 and the Verdi Inlet

Verdi Inlet

Verdi Inlet is an ice-filled inlet between Pesce Peninsula and Harris Peninsula, on the north side of Beethoven Peninsula, Alexander Island. Observed from the air and first roughly mapped by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition , 1947-48. Remapped from the RARE air photos by Searle of the...

 apparently intrude into it. The Bach Ice Shelf

Bach Ice Shelf

The Bach Ice Shelf is an ice shelf which is irregular in shape and in extent, occupying an embayment in the south part of Alexander Island entered between Berlioz Point and Rossini Point. A minor embayment in this position first appeared on the charts of the US Antarctic Service, which explored...

, Rossini Point

Rossini Point

Rossini Point is a snow-covered point on the south coast of Alexander Island, marking the southeast side of the entrance to the embayment occupied by Bach Ice Shelf. First seen and roughly mapped by the United States Antarctic Service , 1939-41...

 and Berlioz Point

Berlioz Point

Berlioz Point is a snow-covered headland on the south side of Beethoven Peninsula, Alexander Island, marking the northwest entrance point to the embayment occupied by Bach Ice Shelf. The south part of Alexander Island was first roughly mapped by the United States Antarctic Service in 1940, but...

 are some distance away, on the Ronne Entrance

Ronne Entrance

Ronne Entrance is a broad southwest entrance of the George VI Sound where it opens on Bellingshausen Sea at the southwest side of Alexander Island. It was discovered on a sledge journey through the sound in December 1940 by U.S. Polar explorer Finn Ronne and Carl Eklund of the US Antarctic Service...

 from the Southern Ocean

Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

.

The peninsula was first seen and photographed from the air in 1940 by the US Antarctic Service, which compiled the first rough map of southwest Alexander Island. It was resighted and photographed from the air by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition

Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition

The Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition was an expedition from 1947-1948 which researched the area surrounding the head of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica.-Background:...

 (RARE), 1947–48, and remapped from RARE photos by Derek J.H. Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1960. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee

UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee

The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory and the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

 after the composer Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

.

Sources

• National Geographic Atlas of the World, 7th Edition.