McMurdo Station
The McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research center on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as one of three United States Antarctic science facilities. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.
Amsler Island
Amsler Island is located off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is named after American marine biologists Charles (Chuck) and Margaret (Maggie) Amsler of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The island is a triangular rocky plot of granite land approximately long and wide at its widest point. It was once thought to be part of a larger island known as Anvers Island because the gap between the islands was covered by the Marr Ice Piedmont. Rapid recession of the ice due to global warming revealed this as a separate island in 2004. The United States Board on Geographic Names chose this name in 2007 in recognition of the Amslers' three decades of research in the Anvers Island area. Amsler Island was the original site of the United States Antarctic Program research base Palmer Station from 1965 until the current station approximately away was constructed in 1968.