| Geography and Climate |
Heard and McDonald Is., located in Southern Africa, are islands in the Indian Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. Area comparatively slightly more than 2 times the size of Washington, DC.
Climate is antarctic. Terrain in Heard Island consists of bleak and mountainous, with a quiescent volcano; McDonald Island is small and rocky. Elevation extreme has the lowest point in Indian Ocean 0 m and highest point in Big Ben 2,745 m. Natural hazard in Heard Island is dominated by a dormant volcano called Big Ben.
Geography—note: primarily used for research stations.
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |