Featured Map for 28 September 2016:
From Record Heat to Elephant Island

The past three days have brought record-breaking heat to the San Francisco Bay Area, and not just due to the candles from Google's 18th Birthday. Temperatures in excess of 100°F (38C) may be balmy to some users of this site but around here such temperatures lead people to seek cold drinks or colder locations. Antarctica, perhaps.

The northnmost airport or research station in Antarctica is Chile's Tiente Rodolfo Marsh Martin Airport, on King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland Islands. It's not quite the closest to San Francisco, though—Capitán Arturo Prat Base on Greenwich Island is just a bit closer on thanks to being farther west.

Today's Featured Map shows facilties near Tte. R. Marsh Martin and straddles the Drake Passage between Antarctica and Cape Horn. Mapping those search results also highlighted an island east and a bit north of King George Island, one without any sort of landing facility, weather station, or other entry in the Great Circle Mapper database. Some research revealed this island to be Elephant Island, near the eastern end of the South Shetland Islands and named either for the elephant seals observed on its shores by early explorers or for its resemblance to an elephant head and trunk, depending on which story you prefer. With a pachydermophile sister, I'm going with the latter story!

References and additional information:

• Bay Area ties record highs in Oakland, San Jose, Mountain View – The Mercury News (26 September 2016)
• Bay Area Heat Wave Smashes Old Temperature Records – CBS San Francisco (25 September 2016)
• Google's 18th Birthday – Google (27 September 2016)