Gough Island fact sheet

2010-09-02 14:54

Cape Town - Gough Island is a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean and is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena.

It is uninhabited except for   at weather station (handled usually by six people) which the South African National Antarctic Programme has maintained since 1956.

• Over 900 m above sea level.
• Area is 91km² (according to the South area African Antarctic Programme)
• 2 604km Cape Town.
• Latitude: 40-21S, longitude: 009-53W, elevation: 54 metres

• First recorded discovery of Gough Island was in 1505 or 1506 by Diego Alvarez (Portuguese  seaman)
• Gough Island proclaimed a British possession in 1938 as part of the Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, part of the Crown Colony of St Helena.
Wildlife
• Gough and Inaccessible Islands form a protected wildlife reserve, which has been designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
• 54 bird species recorded in total, of which 22 species breed on the island, 20 being seabirds. Four species are threatened.
• Least disrupted ecosystems and best shelters for nesting seabirds in the Atlantic.
• Host to the Tristan Albatross and the Atlantic Petrel; Great concerns with house mice found which feed on seabird chicks which might drive birds to extinction.

• Important weather station
• Provides information of weather systems over the oceans surrounding South Africa - areas from where very little information is available
• Important in forecasting winter weather because cold fronts approach South Africa from the south-west.
• The summers are relatively dry, with temperatures occasionally reaching 25°C.
• Continuous rainfall in winter - in excess of 60mm
• Strong winds in June and July, often reaching gale force

• The round trip Cape Town - Tristan da Cunha - Gough Island - Tristan da Cunha - Cape Town usually takes 30 days.

- News24