Data Zone
Country/territory: Antarctica
IBA criteria met: A4ii (2015)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 454 hectares (4.54 km2)
Site description (2015 baseline)
The Riiser-Larsen Peninsula lies on the Prince Harald Coast, Dronning Maud Land, immediately west of Lützow-Holm Bay. An Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colony breeds on fast ice that forms in northwestern Lützow-Holm Bay, and is typically located within a few km of the Riiser-Larsen Peninsula. The ice shelf formerly adjacent to the breeding site has partially broken up in recent years and has retreated ~5-7 km southward. The colony was discovered in 1975 when it was referred to as ‘Riiser-Larsen Peninsula' (Hoshiai & Chujo 1976); this is the same colony that more recently has been referred to as ‘Gunnerus' by Fretwell et al. (2012).
The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Emperor Penguin colony present and is entirely marine.
There are no research stations nearby. The closest permanent station is Syowa (JPN), ~210 km to the east on the Prince Olav Coast, Enderby Land.
Key biodiversity
Hoshiai & Chujo (1976) estimated from aerial photographs that 7200 individuals were present at the Riiser-Larsen Peninsula colony on 24 Oct 1975, including chicks. Kato et al. (2004) estimated that between 4000 – 9000 breeding pairs attend this colony based on counts of adults from ground and aerial photographs acquired between 31 August – 25 September over six seasons from 1984–2000. More recently, Fretwell et al. (2012) estimated from a satellite image acquired 31 Oct 2009 that approximately 4652 Emperor Penguins were present at the time, although because image quality was ‘Fair' and the image originates late in the breeding season, the count may be a poor indicator of the number of breeding pairs present in that season. No other birds are known to breed in the area.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Riiser-Larsen Peninsula (Antarctica). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/riiser-larsen-peninsula-iba-antarctica on 18/12/2024.