Welch Island is an 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...

, 1 miles (1.6 km) long with a prominent pinnacle

Pinnacle

A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...

 rock

Rock (geology)

In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...

 of 130 m (427 ft), lying north of Rouse Islands

Rouse Islands

The Rouse Islands or Rouse Rocks are a small group of islands in the eastern part of Holme Bay, fringing the coast of Mac Robertson Land close south of Welch Island. The Rouse Islands have an altitude of...

 and 1 miles (1.6 km) off the shore in the eastern side of Holme Bay

Holme Bay

Holme Bay is a bay in Antarctica by Mac. Robertson Land, wide, containing many islands, indenting the coast north of the Framnes Mountains. Holme Bay is largely snow-free and was mapped by Norwegian cartographers from aerial photographs taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition in January-February...

. Welch Island is located at 67°34′S 62°56′E.

Welch Island was discovered in February 1931 by the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition

British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition

The British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition was a research expedition into Antarctica between 1929 and 1931, involving two voyages over consecutive Austral summers...

 (BANZARE) under Sir Douglas Mawson

Douglas Mawson

Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...

, who named it for B. F. Welch, Second Engineer on the RRS Discovery

RRS Discovery

The RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful...

.

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
  Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
  The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science . It was established in February 1958 to continue the international coordination of Antarctic scientific activities that had begun during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58...
  
  
• Territorial claims in Antarctica