Case file · Anomaly hotspot
The Bunger 'oasis'
In February 1947 Lt Cdr David Bunger and his Operation Highjump crew found a stretch of ice-free hills with dark lakes on the Knox Coast and landed their seaplane on one of the unfrozen lakes.
1947 CE · -66.28, 100.78 · status: official
The account
News of a snow-free 'oasis' in Antarctica drew press attention and has been folded into hollow-earth tales of warm lands near the pole. The Bunger Hills are real: low rounded hills, many melt ponds, and Algae Lake, 25 km long and up to 137 m deep. Why so little ice covers them is still debated by glaciologists.
The sceptical view
Dry valleys and coastal oases form where winds and bare dark rock keep snow from settling; algae colour the lakes. Nothing points to geothermal or hidden lands.
Connections in the atlas
- Don Juan Pond, the lake that will not freeze
- Byrd's 'land beyond the pole' quotes, claimed and documented
- Operation Highjump: myth and history