They were discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot in 1908–10 and named by him for Otto Mikkelsen, the Norwegian diver who inspected the damaged hull of the Pourquoi-Pas at Deception Island.

This article incorporates public domain material from "Mikkelsen Islands".

Geographic Names Information System.

United States Geological Survey.

This Adelaide Island location article is a stub.