Scripps Heights is a rugged heights which are largely ice covered, surmounting the peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

 between Casey and Lurabee Glaciers on the east coast of Palmer Land

Palmer Land

Palmer Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between US-ACAN and UK-APC, in which the name Antarctic Peninsula was approved for the major peninsula of...

. Deeply scarred by glaciers, the heights terminate on the east in Cape Walcott

Cape Walcott

Cape Walcott is a bold, ice-covered headland rising to 625 m, forming the seaward extremity of Scripps Heights on the east coast of Palmer Land. Discovered by Sir Hubert Wilkins in 1928 and named by him for Frederic C. Walcott of the Council of the American Geographical Society....

. Discovered by Sir Hubert Wilkins in his pioneer flight on December 20, 1928. Thinking the feature to be a large island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 lying between two great transverse channels which completely severed 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....

, he named it Scripps Island for William Scripps of Detroit, MI. Correlation of aerial photographs taken by Lincoln Ellsworth

Lincoln Ellsworth

Lincoln Ellsworth was an arctic explorer from the United States.-Birth:He was born on May 12, 1880 to James Ellsworth and Eva Frances Butler in Chicago, Illinois...

 in 1935 and preliminary reports of the findings of the British Graham Land Expedition

British Graham Land Expedition

A British expedition to Graham Land led by John Lachlan Cope took place between 1920 and 1922. The British Graham Land Expedition was a geophysical and exploration expedition to Graham Land in Antarctica between 1934 to 1937. Under the leadership of John Riddoch Rymill, the expedition spent two...

 (BGLE) under Rymill, 1934–37, led W.L.G. Joerg to interpret this to be a peninsula. In published reports, members of the BGLE have concurred in this interpretation which was also borne out by the results of subsequent flights and a sledge trip from East Base by members of the United States Antarctic Service (USAS) in 1940.