Global Change Data Encyclopedia
St. Kilda Island
Hu, K.1
Han, N. L.1 Liu,
C.2*
Shi, R. X.2
1. School of Politics & Public Administration, Hainan
University, Haikou 570228, China;
2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Keywords: St. Kilda Island; Hirta Island; United Kingdom; data encyclopedia
Dataset
Availability Statement:
The dataset supporting this paper was published and is accessible
through the Digital
Journal of Global Change Data Repository at: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2020.05.13.V1.
St. Kilda (Hirta) Island is a volcanic island, located off
the coast of the Hebrides in the northwest of Scotland and in the north of the
Atlantic Ocean. It is 162.59 km from the mainland and 63.40 km from North Uist
Island to the southeast. It is part of the St. Kilda archipelago, which includes
islands of Hirta, Dun, Soay and Boreray in the Atlantic Ocean. The geo-location
of the St. Kilda Island is: 57°49ʹ43ʺN-57°47ʹ37ʺN, 8°37ʹ04ʺW-8°32ʹ58ʺW[1]. The National Trust for
Scotland, United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland owns the archipelago of St. Kilda[2].
The total area of the island is 7.00 km2 and the coastline is
20.48 km long. It is the island with the largest area and the highest sea cliff
in the St. Kilda Islands[2].
The island, uninhabited
since 1930, keeps a series of the evidence of more than 2,000 years of human activities
in the extreme conditions prevalent in the Hebrides[3]. Its built
structures and field systems, the cleits and traditional highland stone houses,
even some signs of the Bronze Age were still remained, which recorded a special
subsistence economy based on the products of birds, agriculture and sheep
farming, the International Council on Mountains and Sites (ICOMS) indicated[4].
St.
Kilda Island is a relic of volcanic eruption. The cliffs become a wonder of the
island, and a good habitat and protection for the precious and endangered birds
living here. Because of the Atlantic Ocean climate, with high humidity, strong
wind and harsh natural environment, the terrain of the island is rugged, and
access depends on the weather and tides. “It has some of the highest cliffs in
Europe, which have large colonies of rare and endangered species of birds,
especially puffins and gannets”, the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
indicated[4].
Due to its natural and cultural
characteristics, the St. Kilda archipelago, including the Saint Kilda Island has
already been inscribed by the UNESCO on the World Heritage List as a natural
and cultural heritage site or comprehensive heritage site, as No. 387 in 1986[5].
The site is expanded in 2004 and 2005 through evaluating by ICOMS [6–7]
and IUCN[8].
This dataset was
developed based on the “Global multiple scale shorelines dataset based on
Google Earth images (2015)”[9]. The dataset consists of 16 data
files, was archived in .kmz and .shp data formats, with a data size of 152 KB
(compressed into 2 files, 72.1 KB)
Figure 1 Map of St. Kilda
Island (.shp format) Figure 2 Map of St. Kilda Island
(.kmz format)
References
[1]
Hu, K.,
Han, N. L., Liu, C., et al. St. Kilda
Island [J/DB/OL]. Digital Journal of Global
Change Data Repository, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2020.05.13.V1.
[2] National Trust in Scotland. https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/st-kilda.
[3] Advisory Body Evaluation (ICOMS-International
Council on Mountains and Sites). World Heritage List No.387. 1986. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/387.
[4] Advisory Body Evaluation (IUCN- International
Union for Conservation of Nature). World Heritage List No. 387. 1986. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/387.
[5] St. Kilda. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/387/.
[6] Advisory Body Evaluation (ICOMS-International
Council on Mountains and Sites). World Heritage List No.387. 2004. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/387.
[7] Advisory Body Evaluation (ICOMS-International
Council on Mountains and Sites). World Heritage List No.387. 2005. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/387.
[8] Advisory Body Evaluation (IUCN). World Heritage
Nomination—IUCN Technical Evaluation Saint Kilda (Hirta) (UK) ID N° 387 Bis.
2004. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/387.
[9] Liu, C., Shi, R. X., Zhang, Y. H., et al. Global multiple scale shorelines
dataset based on Google Earth images (2015) [J/DB/OL]. Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2019.04.13.V1.