Gurkovska Cove

Gurkovska Cove
(Bulgarian: залив Гурковска
Location of Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands
Gurkovska Cove
Location in Antarctica
LocationElephant Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
GroupSouth Shetland Islands
Coordinates61°07′40″S 54°42′00″W / 61.12778°S 54.70000°W / -61.12778; -54.70000
TypeCove
EtymologyNamed after Yuliya Gurkovska
Part ofSouthern Ocean
Primary inflowsThe Stadium Glacier
Primary outflowsSouthern Ocean
Ocean/sea sourcesSouthern Ocean
Basin countriesAntarctica
Max. length2.5 km (8,200 ft)
Max. width3 km (9,800 ft)
Shore length1Slavyanka Beach (southwest side)
FrozenSeasonally ice-covered
SettlementsNone
Location
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Gurkovska Cove (Bulgarian: залив Гурковска, ‘Zaliv Gurkovska’ \'za-liv 'gur-kov-ska\) is the 3 km wide cove indenting for 2.5 km the east extremity of Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is entered southwest of Boyadzhiev Point and northeast of Walker Point. Its southwest side is occupied by Slavyanka Beach. The feature was formed as a result of the retreat of The Stadium (a glacier feeding the cove's head) in the first decade of 21st century.

The cove is named after Yuliya Gurkovska (1945–2001), participant in the Second Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition 1993/94 (while serving as chief of staff of the Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev at that time[1]), for her support for the Bulgarian Antarctic programme. Gurkovska was an experienced explorer who sailed several times together with her husband Doncho Papazov in the course of a plankton research programme carried out onboard various lifeboats in the Black Sea, the Atlantic and the Pacific. Eventually, accompanied by their daughter Yana (then 6 years old), they circumnavigated the world in the yacht Tivia in 1979–1981.[2]

Location

Gurkovska Cove is centred at . British mapping of the area in 1822,1972 and 2009.

Maps

Notes

  1. ^ Yulia Gourkovska (1945-2001). Centre for Liberal Strategies, 2009
  2. ^ Plankton V: A cruise around the world with the yacht Tivia. Strashimir Dimitrov Geological Institute. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2005

References

This article includes information from the Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria which is used with permission.