Gough Island

Gough Island
Gonçalo Álvares
Map of Gough Island
Gough Island Gonçalo Álvares is located in South Atlantic
Gough Island Gonçalo Álvares
Gough Island
Gonçalo Álvares
Geography
LocationSouth Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates40°19′12″S 09°56′24″W / 40.32000°S 9.94000°W / -40.32000; -9.94000
ArchipelagoTristan da Cunha
Area91 km2 (35 sq mi)
Length13 km (8.1 mi)
Width7 km (4.3 mi)
Highest elevation910 m (2990 ft)
Highest pointEdinburgh Peak
Administration
United Kingdom
St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
CriteriaNatural: (vii), (x)
Reference740
Inscription1995 (19th Session)
Designated20 November 2008
Reference no.1868[1]
View of Gough Island

Gough Island (/ɡɒf/ GOF), also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, is a rugged volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is approximately 400 km (250 mi) south-east of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago (which includes Nightingale Island and Inaccessible Island), 2,400 km (1,500 mi) north-east from South Georgia Island, 2,700 km (1,700 mi) west from Cape Town, and over 3,200 km (2,000 mi) from the nearest point of South America.

Gough Island is uninhabited, except for the personnel of a weather station (usually six people) that the South African National Antarctic Programme has maintained, with British permission, continually on the island since 1956. It is one of the most remote places with a constant human presence. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of "Gough and Inaccessible Island". It is one of the most important seabird colonies in the world.[2][3][4]

  1. ^ "Gough Island". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Archived from the original on 30 May 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. ^ Swales, M. K. (1965). The sea‐birds of Gough Island. Ibis, 107(2), 215-229.
  3. ^ BirdLife International, 2017. "Important Bird Areas factsheet: Gough Island." [1]
  4. ^ Caravaggi, A., Cuthbert, R. J., Ryan, P. G., Cooper, J., & Bond, A. L. (2019). The impacts of introduced House Mice on the breeding success of nesting seabirds on Gough Island. Ibis, 161(3), 648-661.

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