Jonathan Amos Honoured With Antarctic Channel Name

What changed

A stretch of water between Rothschild Island and Alexander Island in the British Antarctic Territory has officially been named the Amos Channel. The UK Antarctic Place Names Committee recommended the name to honour Jonathan Amos, who spent 38 years covering science and left the BBC in 2024; the channel emerged after connecting ice disintegrated.

Why it matters

The name turns a physical change in Antarctica into a permanent marker of the science used to explain it. Amos reported on melting ice sheets, giant icebergs, penguin colonies and the discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship, Endurance. Now his name sits on a channel created by the loss of ice itself.

That gives the honour an unusual weight. It recognises journalism, but it also points back to Antarctica as a frontline of climate change. Amos has never visited the continent he covered from his desk. The new name gives him a reason to make the journey.