Zed Islands is a small group of islands, the westernmost rising to 290 m (951 ft), lying off the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands

South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...

, Antarctica comprising four islands: Esperanto Island

Esperanto Island

Esperanto Island is the largest and northwesternmost island in the Zed group off the north coast of Varna Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The island is ice-free, rocky, rising to and extending , with surface area . Situated to the northwest of the...

, Phanagoria Island

Phanagoria Island

Phanagoria Island is the third largest island in the Zed group off the north coast of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The island is ice-free, extending with surface area . Separated from the neighbouring Esperanto Island and Lesidren Island by channels wide...

, Lesidren Island

Lesidren Island

Lesidren Island is the second largest and southernmost island in the Zed group off the north coast of Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The island is ice-free, extending with surface area . Separated from the neighbouring Phanagoria Island and Koshava...

 and Koshava Island

Koshava Island

Koshava Island is the easternmost island in the Zed group off Varna Peninsula, northeastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The island is ice-free, extending . Situated on the west side of the north entrance to McFarlane Strait, northeast of Lesidren Island, and ...

. The group is separated from Williams Point

Williams Point

Williams Point is the point forming both the north extremity of Varna Peninsula and the northeast tip of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica...

 on Varna Peninsula

Varna Peninsula

Varna Peninsula is a roughly rectangular predominantly ice-covered peninsula forming the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica...

, Livingston Island to the south by the 0.93 miles (1.5 km) wide Iglika Passage

Iglika Passage

Iglika Passage is the passage between the Zed island group and Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, 1.53 km wide between Lesidren Island and Williams Point on Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island....

.

The name appears to have been applied by 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...

 personnel on the Discovery II who charted the islands in 1935.

Location

The midpoint of the group is located at 62°26′00"S 60°09′15"W (British mapping in 1935 and 1968, Chilean in 1971, Argentine in 1980, Spanish in 1991, and Bulgarian in 2005 and 2009).

Map

• L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands. Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2009. ISBN 978-954-92032-6-4

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• 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

External links

• SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer.