Antarctic Knowledge Base | Le Maire Strait captures the sunrise over the Golden Mountain

Le Maire Strait (Le Maire Strait) is located between the Kiev Peninsula of Graham Land in Antarctica and Booth Island, with a length of 11 kilometers and a width of 1.6 kilometers. The strait was first discovered by a German expedition in 1873-74, but it was not until December 1898 that the 'Belgica' of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition passed through this strait for the first time. The expedition leader Adrien de Gerlache named it Le Maire Strait in memory of the explorer Charles Lemaire (1863-1925) in the Belgian Congo region. Le Maire Strait is one of the popular tourist attractions in Antarctica, nicknamed 'Kodak Gorge'. The cliffs on both sides of the strait surround the iceberg, and the narrowest part of the strait is only 1.6 kilometers. Although the waters of the strait are usually calm as a lake, in the early season, icebergs may block the strait, forcing ships to bypass the outside of Booth Island to reach the landing site of Peterman Island. Currently, the Le Maire Strait is managed by the Antarctic Treaty System.