page_title: Deception Island
section_title: Environment
hierarchical_section_title: Deception Island / Environment
caption_attribution_description: Antarctic
context_page_description: Deception Island is an island in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and safe natural harbour. This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. The island previously held a whaling station; it is now a tourist destination and scientific outpost, with Argentine and Spanish research bases. While various countries have asserted sovereignty, it is still administered under the Antarctic Treaty System.
context_section_description: Deception Island has become a popular tourist stop in Antarctica because of its several colonies of chinstrap penguins, as well as the possibility of making a warm bath by digging into the sands of the beach. Mount Flora is the first site in Antarctica where fossilized plants were discovered.
  After the Norwegian Coastal Cruise Liner MS Nordkapp ran aground off the coast of Deception Island on 30 January 2007, fuel from the ship washed into a bay. Ecological damage has not yet been determined. On 4 February 2007, the Spanish Gabriel de Castilla research station on Deception Island reported that water and sand tests were clean, and that they had not found signs of the oil, estimated as 500 to 750 L of light diesel (130 to 200 US gal; 110 to 160 imp gal).
  Deception Island exhibits some wildly varying microclimates. Near volcanic areas, the air can be as hot as 40 °C (104 °F), and water temperature can reach 70 °C (158 °F).
caption: Remains of the whaling station's boilers
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