History, of Bouvet Island, found on several sites. reprint by PA0ABM Location If you've ever dreamed about getting away from it all, then you could do worse than head for the island of Bouvetøya: it's the most isolated island on earth. It has one tiny neighbour to the southwest, Larsøya, but that excepted, the nearest land is over1,600 km away. Bouvetøya lies approximately 1,600 km south-west of Cape Agulhas on the continent of South Africa, and 1,400 km southeast of Gough Island . Another island (Thompson Island to Bouvetøya's north east) was sighted by 19th century sealers, but is believed to have been destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1895 or 1896. Proof of the islands volcanic origin is that sometime between 1955 and 1958, a low-lying shelf of lava appeared on Bouvetøya's west coast, providing the only bird nesting site of any size on the island. Bouvetøya lies at 54º 26' South, 3º 24' East and is roughly seven kilometers long by five kilometers wide. It lies on the southern extremity of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and like Tristan da Cunha has shown signs of recent volcanic activity. This can still be seen by the fumaroles and vents common on the island. Climate Bouvetøya was placed under Norwegian sovereignty by a decree of January 23, 1928. The island is uninhabited, though attempts have been made to establish a meteorological station. As one might imagine, the weather at this location in the 50th latitude is awful. The island is in the path of the "Furious Fifties", with frequent storms in all seasons. Bouvetøya's weather is nearly always cloudy or foggy with a mean temperature of-1ºC in the autral summer: the average high is 2.2ºC. You can see the weather at Bouvetøya following this link Geography Bouvetøya covers about 54 square kilometers. The highest point is Olavtoppen (780m), naned after King Olav of Norway; it and another high peak surround the ice-filled caldera of an inactive volcano known as the Wilhelm II Plateau (Wilhelm II Pik). Glaciers cover most of the island and prevent landings on the south and east coasts, while steep cliffs as high as 490m block access to the north, west and southwest. The presence of numerous offshore reefs make navigation hazardous. The slopes of the central cone terminate on all sides in steep cliffs and glaciers which descend abruptly to the sea. The two largest glaciers are the Posadowsky Glacier on the north coast, west of Cape Valdivia, and the Christensen Glacier, 2 km east of Cato Point, the southwest point of the island. The east coastis entirely covered with an ice sheet which reaches the sea as an ice wall some 122 meters high and extends up the slopes of the caldera to about 425 meters. The north and west sides of the island are almost free from ice, but are much steeper than the south and east sides. The island is composed mainly of black lava. Norvegia Point, on which there is a conspicuous point, is situated 3 km south of Cape Circumcision - named after its discovery on Circumcision Day. There's is hardly any vegetation. The surrounding seas stay close to freezing all year round, and often strewn with icebergs. The only occupants of the island are seabirds, penguins, seals and Elephant Seals , principally on the western coastline History and Hamradio BouvetØya was discovered on January 1, 1738 by Monsieur Jean-Baptiste Lozier Bouvet with French ships Aigle and Marie. The island's position was not accurately fixed and because Bouvet did not circumnavigate his discovery, he remained uncertain whether it was an island or part of a southern continent. Though he remained in the neighborhood for ten days, he was unable to land. In 1772, Captain James Cook aboard HMS Resolution found no land in a position 300 miles south of BouvetØya, thus proving that Bouvet's discovery was not part of a southern continent. In 1774, Captain Furneaus, aboard HMS Adventure and again in 1775 by Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution again unsuccessfully searched for this island. In 1808, Captain Lindsay of the enderby whaler Swan, in company with the Otter, searched for this island along the parallel of latitude 54 degrees southeast from longitude10 degrees west and sighted it on October 6th, 1808. The position of the island was then fixed with the island center measured at 54 degrees 22 minutes south latitude, and 4 degrees, 15 minutes east longitude. Owing to bad weather, no landing was attempted during a week long stay nor was any anchorage discovered, the island being surrounded to a distance of 3 miles with field ice. On December 10th, 1825, the island was again sighted by Captain Norris aboard the ships Sprightly and Lively. On December 16th, a difficult landing was made on Bouvet. The crews of two boats sent ashore for seals were weather bound on shore from December 18 to December 24. By 1918 there were four different islands shown on charts in this extreme southern part of the South Atlantic - Liverpool, Lindsay, Thompson and Bouvet Islands respectively. A Lieutenant Gould of the Royal Navy Hydrographic Survey considered that they were all the same, thoughthere was a chance that a volcanic island had appeared and subsequently disappeared. Britain eventually waived all claims to the island in favour of the Norwegians, as they already possessed a far more suitable whaling station on South Georgia . The first extended stay on the island was in December 1927, when the Norwegian crew of the ship Norvegia stayed for about a month. An emergency depot of food on Cape Circumcision (54º 35' South, 3º 21' East) for shipwrecked sailors was established. The island was claimed for Norway by expedition leader Lars Christensen on 1 December 1927 By a Royal Norwegian Decree of January 23, 1928, Bouvet Island (Bouvetøya in Norwegian) became a Norwegian Territory. The United Kingdom waived its claim in favour of Norway the following year. I In 1929, the Norvegia again visited the island and another hut with provisions was established on Lars0ya off the southwest extremity of BouvetØya but on a visit by the same vessel in 1931, this hut and the one erected on Cape Circumcision (54 degrees, 35 minutes south, 3 degrees, 21 minutes east) had also disappeared. n 1930 a Norwegian act was passed that made the island a dependent area subject to the sovereignty of the Kingdom (but not a part of the Kingdom). In 1934 Admiral E.R.G.R.Evans, Commander in Chief of the British Naval Base at Simonstown, made a dramatic dash to Bouvet in HMS Milford to make sure that no hostile power was operating there: none was, the sole occupants being seals, sea elephants, penguins and seabirds. The island has only rarely been visited, so its history is extremely brief. Two events, however, are rather mysterious: first, a sunken lifeboat and assorted supplies were discovered on the island in 1964, but their origin could not be determined. Little was heard of Bouvet during World War II, but in 1955, interest revived in South Africa in establishing a weather station there. The Transvaal was sent and her crew made several landings on the island to chart it and scout for a suitable site for a weather station. No suitable site was found, and Transvaal returned to South Africa. The American Research Ship Westwind was asked to "have a look" at Bouvet when she sailed south from Cape Town in 1957, and her helicopter photographed a large plateau south of Cape Circumcision.This had formed as a result of volcanic eruption, and was later called by the Norwegians "Nyrøysa" , meaning "New Rubble". The South African Weather Department made a further expedition to Bouvet in 1964 in the R.S.A. , which rendezvoused off Bouvet with HMS Protector on March 29th, 1964. The concensus of opinion was that a Weather Station could only be established and operated by a major power, with extensive backup. In 1964, an abandoned lifeboat was discovered on the island although its origin has never been determined. In 1971, Bouvet Island and the adjacent territorial waters were designated a nature reserve. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was some interest from South Africa to establish a weather station, but conditions were deemed to be too hostile. An automated weather station was, however, set up in 1977 by the Norwegians. he positioning of an automatic weather station on Bouvet was an attractive alternative. This was established by the Norwegians from the MV Polarsirkel in 1977, sited on the Nyrøysa, and transmitted for a while to the Nimbus 6 Satellite. A temporary five-man station was established the following year, superceded by another automatic weather station which continues to operate. Then, on September 22, 1979, a thermonuclear bomb test very probably occurred in the vivinity of Bouvetøya and Marion Island. Though no country ever admitted to setting off a nuclear device there, an orbiting satellite detected a very brief, intense burst of light and magnetic, seismographic and ionospheric evidence all point to a nuclear blast. Personnel at Australian Antarctic stations later detected radiation and radioactive debris. It is now believed that the test was carried out by the South Africans. This flash, since dubbed the Vela Incident, is still not completely resolved. In 1994, the Norwegians constructed a field station – a container building of 36 square metres (388 square feet). On October 19, 2007, the Norwegian Polar Institute announced that the station was no longer visible on satellite photographs. Later investigations indicated that a landslide or ice avalanche swept the building off its foundations. A replacement station is being planned (2009). An unmanned weather station on the island is reportedly still intact. End 1989-begin 1990 there was a large group on the island. The expedition landed on the West Coast of the island which is the only safe place for camp at about 50 meters above sea level. The operators were: LA1EE, LA2GV, JF1IST, F2CW, HB9AHL plus two scientists, a 2 man film team, a 2 man helicopter crew and a camp assistant. In 16 days the operators made almost 50, 000 QSOs on CW, SSB, and RTTY on 160 through 10 meters. In 1997, LA2GV-Kare was able to set foot again on Bouvet Island. He made about 200 QSO’s as 3Y2GV in the three hours he was on Bouvet. January, 2000 The South Sandwich Island DX Group previously released information that it intended to activate Bouvet Island in a major DXpedition during 1997-1998. SSIDXG has been working for some time on landing permission for another extremely rare Antarctic island and that landing permission was granted. However, there have been problems because the Norwegian Government, through the Nordst Polarinstitute, has notified us of plans for major environmental/wildlife impact projects on Bouvet Island. Because of their environmental concerns and planned activities, the SSIDXG operations director, Tony DePrato, has officially postponed the planned operation until the conflicts with the scientific studies at Bouvet are resolved. Tony has recently advised me to list the dates of the planned expedition as during the Antarctic summer period of December - January 2000-2001. SSIDXG has not given up on the expedition, and has recently filed additional papers and information to secure authorization for the landing, however the situation is largely not under out control. The SSIDXG is an organization committed to organizing and conducting world class expeditions to sub- antarctic islands that are extremely difficult to activate. As such SSIDXG's primary role is to activate DXCC countries which are virtually never activated due to their inaccessibility and remoteness. However, SSIDXG also has as its highest priority maintaining the ecological integrity of the islands that it activates. The Antarctic islands are pristine ecosystems which support complex interactions of geography, wildlife, marine life, and for which, man's intrusion can be an unwanted disruption. However, SSIDXG is dedicated to minimizing or eliminating the impact of a manned expedition to any island it visits. Although SSIDXG had anticipated a landing date during the December, 1998/January 1999 Antarctic summer-weather window, this intention was placed on hold. The major problem with the planning has been in getting official authorization from the Norwegian Polar Institute for the landing. The Nordsk Polarinstitute is conducting a major scientific investigation of the breeding of the seal and animal colonies on the island and has placed restrictions on landing access by any means during the breeding period, which coincidentally, happens to be during the major time periods for most Antarctic landings (the austral summer). The Polarinstitue is most concerned about helicopter overflights but any disturbance of the colony is banned for the duration of the study. SSIDXG is evaluating a number of alternative options and has delayed the proposed landing to conform to this government policy It appears that any permission to land on Bouvet will have to wait until the completion of the CEMP scientific study. This means that the earliest possible date for the expedition would have been the Antarctic Summer of 1999-2000 (December - January 1999-2000) however, that date has also now been put off. At this point, the plans of SSIDXG have been delayed until 2000-2001. When conducted, the operation is planned as a two week stay on the island. As in the past two DXpeditions under the SSIDXG banner (VP8SSI in 1992, and 3Y0PI in 1994), the SSIDXG plans a very comprehensive DXpedition with operation on all bands and all modes including satellite. Our plans are to again have four stations operational around the clock during time on the island. The team will consist of at least 10 operators made up of both seasoned DXpeditioners from the previous ZP8SSI and 3Y0PI operations, plus other skilled operators new to our expeditions. It is anticipated that a multinational team will be supplemented by other members of SSIDXG and the crew roster will surely fluctuate as we approach the DXpedition departure date. Bouvet Island (Bouvetøya) is a Norwegian territory located in the sub-Antarctic area. Bouvetøya is located at 54 degrees, 24 minutes South, and 3 degrees, 25 minutes East. Formerly known as Bouvet Island, Bouvetøya is the southern-most island of the mid-Atlantic ridge and consists of a single volcanic cone with a wide indented crater and attaining a maximum elevation of 2,560 feet at Olaf Peak at the island's center. The area of the island is approximately 19 1/3 square miles. Bouvetøya was placed under Norwegian sovereignty by a Royal Norwegian Decree on January 23, 1928. The island is uninhabited, though attempts have been made to establish a meteorological station. As one might imagine, the weather at this location in the 50th latitude is inhospitable at best. Bouvet Island lies approximately 1,370 miles south-west of Cape Agulhas on the continent of South Africa, and 1,020 miles southeast of Gough Island. Bouvetøya is clearly one of the most isolated pieces of land on the earth's surface. The goal of this expedition to Bouvet Island is common to the goal of all SSIDXG expeditions: To work each population area of the world as evenly as possible so that all DX chasers from all countries will have an equivalent chance of working the expedition. It is anticipated that all QSL confirmations and all financial contributions to support this SSIDXG DXpedition will be handled by Ron Lago, AC7DX. Previous Bouvet DXpeditions Bouvet Ø ya (Bouvet Island) has been activated only three times for significant amateur radio operations making Bouvet one of the most consistently sought-after and rare "countries" for DXCC credit in the award's history. The remoteness of the island and the difficulties in activating this island will continue to keep this island near the top of the "most wanted list" under the current country criteria. Bouvet Island was first activated seriously in 1977 by 3Y1VC and 3Y3CC, and then several years later by 3Y1VC and 3Y5DQ during the austral summer 1978-1979. Previous expeditions have been done largely as part of official scientific and governmental activities of Norwegian Polar Exploration efforts. The initial two expeditions by Norwegian amateurs produced a total of approximately 2,500 QSOs. The 3Y5X operation. The first major expedition to Bouvet Ø ya was conducted once again by two Norwegian operators supplemented with three visitors. The two leaders of this expedition, Einar (LA1EE) and Kare (LA2GV) formed a support group named Club Bouvet (along with Erling, LA6VM) to provide emotional and financial support for a major DXpedition to Bouvet Island in 1989. These two operators were joined on the expedition by Jin Fujiwara (JF1IST), Jacky Calvo (F2CW) and Willy Reusch (HB9AHL). This operation clearly made the most impact to date on the Bouvet Island needs of the amateur radio community, and the operation was pulled-off with a tremendous personal and financial cost to the Club Bouvet organizers. Bouvet was one of the most eagerly awaited major expeditions to come on the air up to that time. The operators and sponsors of the Club Bouvet operation merit the admiration and appreciation of every DXer who worked them for a new one, or a new one on a band or mode. However, a number of factors also made the 1989-1990 Bouvet Island dxpedition one of the most controversial of all time, due to the need to work Asia and Pacific areas long-path over top of the short- path opening to North America and Europe. This factor, combined with band-plan QSX, and atypical listening patterns led to massive amounts of frustration and problems. However, tens of thousand of DXers around the world also had all time new counters on modes or bands that they did not have before, and the goals of the dxpedition were realized. A man should keep his friendship in constant repair (Samuel Johnson (1755).