The Discovery Committee was a popular name for the Interdepartmental Committee for the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands established by the British Government to carry out scientific investigations (which became known as ‘Discovery Investigations

Discovery Investigations

The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, which was formed in 1918...

’) and to propose nature resource conservation and economic development policies for the Falkland Islands Dependencies

Falkland Islands Dependencies

Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement for administering the British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica from 1843 until 1985.-Background:...

.

During more than fifty years (1925–51) of pioneering work, the Committee research ships Discovery (Robert Scott

Robert Falcon Scott

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...

’s ship), William Scoresby and Discovery II collected an enormous amount of oceanographic

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

, biological

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

, and geographical

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 data published in 38 volumes, contributing greatly to the knowledge of the world's southern regions. Particularly extensive was the new data related to all aspects of the island of South Georgia. Among the results of the investigations was also the discovery of the natural boundary of Antarctica, the Antarctic Convergence

Antarctic Convergence

The Antarctic Convergence is a curve continuously encircling Antarctica where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet the relatively warmer waters of the subantarctic. Antarctic waters predominantly sink beneath subantarctic waters, while associated zones of mixing and upwelling create a zone...

.

See also

• Discovery Investigations
  Discovery Investigations
  The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, which was formed in 1918...
  
  
• History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
  History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
  The history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is relatively recent. When European explorers found the islands, they were uninhabited, and their hostile climate, mountainous terrain, and remoteness made subsequent settlement difficult...