Evangelistas Islets

The Evangelistas Islets (Spanish: Islotes Evangelistas) comprise a group of four small, rocky islands lying on the Chilean continental shelf, some 30 km north-west of the western entrance to the Strait of Magellan, in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean, facing the full force of the "Furious Fifties". They come under the jurisdiction of the Chilean Navy which operates the Chilean Maritime Signalling Service and has maintained a presence there since the establishment of the Evangelistas Lighthouse in 1896 by Scottish engineer George Henry Slight.[1][2]

Evangelistas Islets
Native name:
Islotes Evangelistas
Photo of the islets by George Henry Slight, the arrow indicating the site of the lighthouse
Evangelistas Islets
Geography
Coordinates52.386025°S 75.086615°W / -52.386025; -75.086615
Adjacent bodies of waterPacific ocean
Total islands4
Administration
RegionMagallanes y la Antártica Chilena
ProvinceÚltima Esperanza
CommunePuerto Natales
Additional information
NGA UFI=-882479

On February 17, 1676, sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate's expedition were lost at Evangelistas Islets while attempting to install a bronze plaque indicating the areas ownership by the King of Spain.[3]

Description

The largest of the group is Evangelistas Grande which is about 400 metres (1,300 ft) long and wide, reaches a height of 60 metres (200 ft) and supports the lighthouse. The other, uninhabited, islets are Elcano 300 by 100 metres (980 ft × 330 ft), Lobos 400 by 150 metres (1,310 ft × 490 ft), and Pan de Azúcar 200 by 200 metres (660 ft × 660 ft). They are mainly bare rock with steep cliffs on their western sides and are exposed to strong winds and rough seas. Lobos and Elcano are home to breeding colonies of black-browed albatrosses with a combined estimate of 4670 pairs recorded in a 13 October 2002 aerial survey.[2] The islets have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International for their albatross colonies.[4]

The islets are a breeding site for black-browed albatrosses

Climate
Climate data for Evangelistas Islets
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 10.6
(51.1)		 10.6
(51.1)		 10.5
(50.9)		 9.3
(48.7)		 8.1
(46.6)		 6.8
(44.2)		 5.9
(42.6)		 6.0
(42.8)		 6.4
(43.5)		 7.3
(45.1)		 8.3
(46.9)		 9.6
(49.3)		 8.3
(46.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) 8.7
(47.7)		 8.8
(47.8)		 8.3
(46.9)		 7.2
(45.0)		 6.0
(42.8)		 4.8
(40.6)		 4.4
(39.9)		 4.4
(39.9)		 4.9
(40.8)		 5.5
(41.9)		 6.4
(43.5)		 7.6
(45.7)		 6.4
(43.5)
Average low °C (°F) 6.1
(43.0)		 6.6
(43.9)		 5.9
(42.6)		 4.9
(40.8)		 3.7
(38.7)		 2.7
(36.9)		 2.4
(36.3)		 2.4
(36.3)		 2.8
(37.0)		 3.5
(38.3)		 4.1
(39.4)		 5.4
(41.7)		 4.1
(39.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 233.4
(9.19)		 225.2
(8.87)		 275.5
(10.85)		 247.7
(9.75)		 215.2
(8.47)		 211.9
(8.34)		 216.4
(8.52)		 214.1
(8.43)		 224.5
(8.84)		 164.7
(6.48)		 170.2
(6.70)		 170.9
(6.73)		 2,569.7
(101.17)
Average relative humidity (%) 83 83 83 83 88 82 82 81 82 83 83 83 83
Source: Bioclimatografia de Chile[5]

See also

References
  1. Rowlett, Russ (2012-09-20). "Evangelistas". Lighthouses of Southern Chile. University of North Carolina. Retrieved 2013-01-06.
  2. Arata, Javier; Robertson, Graham; Valencia, Jose; Lawton, Kieran (2003). "The Evangelistas Islets, Chile: a new breeding site for Black-browed Albatrosses". Polar Biology. 26 (10): 687–690. doi:10.1007/s00300-003-0536-6.
  3. de Vea, Antonio (1886). "Expedición de Antonio de Vea". Anuario Hidrográfico de la Marina de Chile (in Spanish). Valparaíso. pp. 5879–590.
  4. "Islotes Evangelistas". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  5. Hajek, Ernst; Castri, Francesco (1975). "Bioclimatografia de Chile" (PDF) (in Spanish). p. 212. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.