Ross Island with Beaufort Island

By Nicole Schiller, University of Minnesota

This map was produced for the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota. It is a general reference map of Ross Island, with an inset of nearby Beaufort Island. These islands lie in the Ross Sea off the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. Ross Island is known for hosting McMurdo Station (US) and Scott Base (NZ), two of the most important Antarctic research hubs, along with being the site of Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Earth. In contrast, Beaufort Island has no infrastructure and is home to large, undisturbed Adélie penguin colonies.

The style of this map is inspired by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 1:250,000-scale topographic reconnaissance maps published in the 1960s through the 1980s, as well as the 1:50,000-scale topographic maps of the McMurdo Dry Valleys published in the 1990s and continuing through the late 2000s. These maps were often characterized by their generalized linework, minimal use of color (limited primarily to blues, whites, and browns), stunning shaded relief, contours, clear gridlines, and a utilitarian sheet layout with a formal title block and metadata in the margins. This design was both practical for mid-20th-century printing and aesthetically striking, creating the stark, elegant style that inspired this piece.