Antarctica

Paul In Antarctica

Antarctica

US Antarctic Permanent Stations

A Cold Continent

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, harshest continent. With little precipitation (roughly 2 inches per year) it is the driest place on earth. Antarctica is roughly 5.4 million sq miles( approx 1 1/2 times the size of the USA), has an average elevation of more than 6,500 ft, and 98% of the landmass is covered by an ice sheet estimated to be 7 million cubic miles.

The average annual temperature at South Pole Station is -56°F. During the summer temperatures at the South Pole may reach a high of 0°F.

Temperatures vary with latitude, elevation and distance from the ocean. East Antarctica is colder than West Antarctica because of its higher elevation. The Antarctic Peninsula has the most moderate climate. Higher temperatures occur in January along the coast and average slightly below freezing.

Temperature patterns vary widely because the continent is covered in continuous darkness during the austral winter and continuous sunlight during the austral summer, with a few weeks of sunrises and sunsets in between seasons.

Plant life in Antarctica is limited, consisting of mostly algae, lichens, and mosses, and there are only a few known species of flowering plants. As far as animal life, only microscopic animals (such as mites and worms) and insects exist on the land; however, the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is full of sea life, including phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, squid, seals, whales, and seabirds.

Did you know?

Antarctica is actually a desert, receiving about the same precipitation (less than 2 inches a year), as the Sahara Desert.

Dogs have been banned from Antarctica to protect the seal population.

If all Antarctic ice were to melt, the sea level would rise over 200 feet.

The world's record low temperature of -128.5° F was recorded in Antarctica.

The coasts of Antarctica are some of the windiest places in the world, with gusts reaching nearly 200 miles per hour.

The Adelie penguin was named after Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville's wife. D'Urville was the first man to set foot in Antarctica.

The temperature in Antarctica once dropped 65° F in 12 minutes.

Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance crushed by the ice

Some Antarctic History

1773: Captain James Cook became the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle.

1820: The Antarctic continent was first seen by human eyes. Historians have disagreed on who those eyes belonged to; at least one possible claimant is believed to have seen land but mistaken it for ice at the time. Credit for being the first man to see the continent has been divided between three men who made separate voyages to Antarctica that year:

Fabian von Bellingshausen, a captain in the Russian Imperial Navy;
Edward Bransfield, a captain in the British navy;
Nathaniel Brown Palmer, an American sealer.

1840: Frenchman Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville became the first person to set foot on Antarctica. (Some historians believe that John Davis, an American sealer, may have set foot on the Antarctic Peninsula in 1821, but even he was unsure if he landed on the continent itself or a nearby island.)

1841: James Clark Ross discovered what is now known as Ross Island. He also sailed along a huge wall of ice that was later named the Ross Ice Shelf.

1897: A ship headed by Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery was stuck in the Antarctic ice and was forced to stay the entire winter. De Gerlache also brought back the first photographs of the continent.

1898: A British-funded expedition headed by Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink was the first to set up a base in Antarctica.

1901-1904: British Capt. Robert Falcon Scott led the National Antarctic Expedition, often referred to as the "Discovery expedition."

1907-1909: Ernest Shackleton led an expedition and members of his crew were the first to reach the south magnetic pole.

1911: Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his party were the first to reach the South Pole.

1912: Capt. Scott and members of his crew died on a trip to the South Pole.

1914: Shackleton attempted to cross the "South Polar continent from sea to sea." Although the attempt failed after his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and crushed in the Wendell Sea, no lives were lost. ( It is an amazing story. read "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing)

1929: Richard E. Byrd made the first flights over the South Pole.

1935: Caroline Mikkelsen, wife of a Norwegian whaling captain, became the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.

1956: The first winter was spent at McMurdo station.

1959: The Antarctic Treaty was signed establishing the legal framework for the management of Antarctica.

1991: Twenty-four countries signed an agreement that barred exploration of Antarctica for oil or mineral deposits for 50 years.