Eights Coast

{{Short description|Portion of the coast of West Antarctica}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Eights Coast''' is a portion of the coast of [[West Antarctica]], between [[Cape Waite]] and [[Pfrogner Point]]. To the west is the [[Walgreen Coast]], and to the east is the [[Bryan Coast]]. It is part of [[Ellsworth Land]] and stretches between 103°24'W and 89°35'W. This coast is bordered by [[Thurston Island]], [[Abbot Ice Shelf]] and some islands within the ice shelf, and for most of its length touches the [[Bellingshausen Sea]] (west of Thurston Island by the [[Amundsen Sea]]). Most of Eights Coast is not claimed by any nation. In the east, Eights Coast borders the [[Territorial claims in Antarctica|sector claimed]] by [[Chile]] as part of its southernmost province. [[Peter I Island]], {{Convert|450|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} north of the coast, is claimed by [[Norway]] as a dependency.

The coast was sighted by members of the [[US Antarctic Service]] by flights from the [[USS Bear (1874)|USS ''Bear'']] during February 1940. It was mapped in detail by the [[United States Geological Survey]] from surveys and from [[U.S. Navy]] air photographs, 1960–1966. Eights Coast was named by the [[Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names]] for [[James Eights]] of [[Albany, New York]], a [[geologist]] on the ship ''Annawan'' during 1830, who performed geological investigations of the [[South Shetland Islands]], and who cruised westward on the ''Annawan'', in company with the ship ''Penguin'', to 103°W. Eights, the earliest American scientist in the Antarctic, discovered the first known [[fossil]]s in the Antarctic region, a tree section in the South Shetland Islands. As a result of these investigations Eights, during 1833, published in the ''Transactions of the Albany Institute'' (Vol. 2) what proved to be remarkably accurate observations and conclusions concerning the natural phenomena of the region.<ref name=gnis/><ref name=gna/>

== References == {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=gnis>{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 4367| name = Eights Coast | accessdate = 2012-02-27}}</ref> <ref name=gna>{{cite web |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/36721395/Gna-GeographicNamesOfTheAntarctic1stEdition1981-djvu |work=Gna-GeographicNamesOfTheAntarctic1stEdition1981_djvu |title=Eights Coast |page=611|accessdate=2012-02-27}}</ref> }}

[[Category:Coasts of Antarctica]] [[Category:Landforms of Ellsworth Land]]