Facts About Icy Glory : Antarctica
Antarctica is the 5th biggest continent and 10% of the earth's land area.
Antarctica's total area is 14 million sq.km. In summer, there is another 2.5 million sq.km of sea ice, which increases to 19 million sq.km in winter, more than doubling the size of Antarctica.
Only 2% of the land is not covered in ice.
Ice slowly builds up over millions of years at the rate of 50 to 900 mm/year.
There are about 24 000 000 sq.km of ice altogether.
Antarctic ice which at its thickest reaches 5 km in depth, comprises almost 70% of the earth's fresh water. If it all melted, sea levels would rise between 50 and 60 m.
Antarctic glaciers are giant rivers of ice that flow slowly towards the sea.
Due to its ice cap Antarctica is the highest continent, averaging 2300 m above sea level.
The highest peak is Vinson Massif at 4900 m.
Antarctica has the lowest recorded temperature; -90°C at Vostock in 1983.
Inland, temperatures range from -70°C in winter to -35°C in summer. Corresponding figures for coastal regions are -30°C and 0°C.
Antarctica is so cold because up to 80% of incoming solar radiation is reflected back into space by ice and snow. The other 20% is largely absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected by clouds.
Antarctica is the windiest place on earth with gusts up to 327 km/hr having been recorded.
Antarctica is the driest place on earth. In some places like the Dry Valleys, it has not rained for thousands of years.
270 million years ago, Antarctica was part of Gondwanaland and probably covered with tundra, marsh and forests, explaining why coal and petrified wood can still be found today.
There are also likely to be reserves of oil.
Antarctica is the least known of the earth's land masses; fewer than 200 000 people have ever been there.
Antarctica is the world's finest laboratory. Scientists from all over the world come to study, among others, such things as the organisms that live in this unspoiled ecosystem, the consequences of climate change and clues to the origins of the universe.
Antarctica is located at the South Pole and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean.
Antarctica has no countries and no portions of the continent are owned by any country.
There is as much ice on Antarctica as there is water in the Atlantic Ocean.
Antarctica has the highest average elevation of any continent. This is due to all the ice on it!
The South Pole, considered a continent, hasn’t any inhabitants. Travel at your own risk.
Out of 17 penguin species, only 6 can be found in Antarctica.
In the water surrounding Antarctica are whales, seals and fish.
All the countres of the world have agreed to investigate this continent and use it for science purposes.
The snow on Antartica often turns to ice because it never gets a chance to melt.
McMurdo Station, the largest research station on Antarctica, hosts about 1,100 researchers each summer. In the winter, only 200 stay and work here.
There are no planes flying by Antarctica from February to August.
November to March is Antarctica’s summer. This is their tourist season to the only continent without a time zone.
Each of the IceCube strings have a theme and each DOM has its own name.
There are 60 DOMs per string.
The travel time from Los Angeles to the South Pole is approximately 48 hours.
The average time to drill a hole for IceCube is approximately 48 hours.
The time it took to drill IceCube's first hole was 57 hours.
The average depth of an IceCube hole is 2452 m.
The average amount of fuel use to drill each hole is approximately 4800 gallons.
The amount of ice melted per hole is approximately 200,000 gallons.
The average time to deploy a string is 11 hours.
The weight of the hose used for the drill is 25,000 lbs.
Average summer temperatures at the south pole is -18°F.
Katabatic (density driven) winds are winds that flow downwards from the interior of Antarctica towards the coast, driven by density as the air cools over the South Pole.
The nearest land masses to Antarctica are South America which is 600 mls / 1000 km distant across the Drake passage which is known as the roughest stretch of water in the world, Australia which is 1550 mls / 2500 km distant, and South Africa which is 2500 mls / 4000 km distant.
Antarctica is the third smallest continent in the world (13,720,000 sq km), larger than Australia (9,010,000 sq km) and the sub-continent of Europe (10,400,000 sq km).
The magnetic South Pole shifts about 5 miles a year and is now located at about 66°S and 139°E on the Adélie Coast of Antarctica.
The continental ice sheet of Antarctica contains about 7 million cubic miles of ice, 90% of the world's total.
Antarctica's lowest point is in the Bentley Subglacial Trench and is -8,327 feet (-2,538 m) below sea level.
Antarctica has approximately 17,968 km of coastline.
Antarctica has no indigenous population.
It almost never gets above 32° F (0° C) in Antarctica and the highest recorded temperature at the South Pole is 7° F (-13.8° C).
There are more than 40 flying bird species that spend their summers in Antarctica.
Most of the animals of Antarctica live on the edge and coast or in the water surrounding the continent.
The ozone hole above Antarctica covers 27 million sq km.
During the summer, more solar radiation reaches the South Pole than is received in an equivalent period at the equator.
There are 28 airport landing facilities in Antarctica and all 37 Antarctic stations have helipads.
Antarctica is 10% of the earth's land area.
The weight of the glaciers in Antarctica are compressing the land under them, if the glaciers were removed the land of Antarctica would slowly rise over the period of hundreds of years.
A nunatak is an outcrop of rock where one of the taller parts of the Transantarctic mountains peek up through the ice sheet.
There are at least 2 active volcanoes in Antarctica, one of which has a permanent molten lava lake.
There are no trees or bushes in Antarctica.
The first time someone set eyes on Antarctica was in the year 1820.
Dogs have been banned from Antarctica to protect the seal population.
The Adelie penguin was named after Jules-Sebastien-Cesar 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.
As sea ice gets older it becomes considerably stronger. In first-year sea ice, most of the salts remain in tiny pockets that prevent a more rigid crystalline ice structure from forming. As the ice ages, the salts slowly leach out, leaving a much stronger crystal.
Antarctia is among the best places on the entire planet to find meteorites from outerspace.
Once, in the early eighties, a swarm of Krill were tracked through the Antarctic waters which contained about ten million tons in total mass of Krill.
Because of its low average precipitation, Antarctica is considered to be a desert.
Ten times a day, scientists here recently winched up a 10-foot cylinder of compacted ice crystals containing the unsullied air and chemicals trapped by snowfall for the past 100,000 years.
Each cylinder preserves bubbles of ancient air and layers of elements swept here by global winds.
In March, a shipment of this rare ice completed an 8,000-mile journey to the National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver, where it will be parceled out for analysis.
Only Antarctica offers such a detailed calendar of climate change, the scientists say.
The polar ice cap is a unique chemical archive of Earth's atmosphere. Data collected from the ice could pin down a puzzling problem in the science of global warming.
The camp, 600 miles from the South Pole, is called WAIS Divide, named for its place atop a regional divide of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
A team of 45 scientists, technicians and support staffers labored here at a cost of about $3 million for the season. They worked around the clock, inside an icehouse, probing a plateau of ice so thick that the continent sags beneath its weight. The first samples already reveal intriguing evidence of climate complexity.
In ice layers attributed to the Middle Ages, when Europe was unusually warm, the team found surprisingly high levels of carbon black particles, or soot.
Levels were found to be twice as high as during the more heavily populated and industrialized 20th century, says geochemist Ross Edwards at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev.
Preliminary tests also showed that soot levels dropped during the cooler centuries after the Middle Ages, a period known as the Little Ice Age.
At every stage, the scientists must be able to prove that the ice cores haven't been contaminated. They must also make sure the samples stay at minus-20 degrees Celsius or so throughout their 8,000-mile journey to Colorado. Otherwise, the key gases will dissipate.
Gradually, the snow pack became a periodic table of elements and temperatures 11,365 feet deep.
By measuring oxygen isotopes, the scientists can track the rise and fall of seasonal temperatures on Antarctica.
In between snowflakes, there are holes in Antarctica.
Working conditions are so harsh the researchers consider themselves lucky to run the drill 35 days a year.
Weddell Seal - the southernmost pinniped in the world. In what is known as reverse sexual dimorphism, males are generally smaller than females. A newborn pup has a coat of long hair, called lanugo, which they will shed within the first month as the protective layer of blubber is developed. Listen to a Weddell Seal underwater.
Orcas - In the Antarctic, Killer whales live amid pack-ice, but they are said not to extend beyond the ice-line in the Arctic ocean. The Orca exhibits a great tolerance for varying temperatures. This is one of the reasons they enjoy a worldwide distribution.
Rockhopper Penguins - one of the more ornate penguins, the Rockhopper stands 16- to 18 inches tall and weighs about 5 to 6 pounds. It can be found on subantarctic islands. Its population numbers appear to be stable at about 3.5 million pairs. These birds shake their heads and cause their yellow eyebrows to fly into a "halo" in order to attract a mate!
Black-browed Albatross - distinguished by its distinctive combination of white head and neat black brow. The Black-browed albatross can have a wigspan of up to eight feet and can weigh up to 10 pounds! Black-browed albatrosses are the most widely distributed of all albatross species. Of all the albatross species they may face the greatest threats from fisheries.
Leopard Seal - named because of the colour patterns on its fur and its fierce nature, the Leopard seal is a fierce predator of it's favorite food - Adelie penguins. They can leap up onto the ice and quickly grab a penguin. They also feed on fish, krill, and squid. Unlike other phocid seals, the leopard seal uses its large fore-flippers while swimming (sea lion style).
Blue Whale - named for its blue-gray color, this huge cetacean may grow to be roughly 100 feet long and weigh more that 120 tons! A blue whale eats about 4 tons of krill per day during the feeding season! This means that about 40 million krill are eaten every day for six months by a blue whale! The tongue of the blue whale can be as big as a Volkswagen! The blue whale is the loudest animal on earth! Hear the blue whale.
Adelie Penguin - the Adelies courtship ceremony begins when the male drops a pebble at the feet of his intended. They begin to fight, but if the female is interested, the fight is very short. Once the mates have been selected, the males commence gathering more pebbles for thier nests. Adelie penguins make their nests out of rocks! Ouch!
Antarctic Shag - primarily eats fish, which they catch by diving. The bill of the Antarctic Shag is serrated for grabbing and holding onto slippery fish! All four toes on this member of the Phalacrocoridae family point forward - a rarity among birds!
Crabeater Seal - Crabeater seals are the most numerous pinniped species in the world and are curiously named since their major prey is not crabs but Antarctic krill! The seals have special lobed teeth that help them to sieve the krill out of the seawater. Crabeater seals have been known to dive as deep as 470 feet and for a period in excess of 10 minutes!
Wandering Albatross - this species of albatross wanders the oceans for months at a time searching for food. It sleeps on the ocean surface at night and drinks seawater. The Wandering albatross is the largest bird in the world in terms of wing span - 11 feet! The Wandering albatross is endangered because of accidental killing of the bird on longlines.
Antarctic Fur Seal - tThe only eared seal in the Antarctic. Fur seals can be quite aggressive and it is wise to give them a wide berth, especially in the mating season! Within four years of their discovery in 1819, over 320,000 Fur seal pelts were taken from the South Shetland Islands. Today the Fur seals are making a rapid comeback and are regularly seen farther and farther south on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Emperor Penguin - Emperor penguins, the biggest of the 17 penguin species, stand 3 to 4 feet tall and can weigh as much as 100 pounds! They are the only living species to reproduce during the harsh Antarctic winter. Without a nest, the male keeps the egg warm by holding it on his feet under an abdominal fold of skin for 2 months.
Southern Elephant Seal - largest of all pinnepeds. The elephant seal gets its name from the long, curved nose the male acquires around the age of three. The snout plays a significant role in the elephant seal's spectacular breeding ritual. By a process known as a catastrophic molt, elephant seals shed their coats every autumn, sloughing large pieces of hair and skin, and leaving the seal with a ragged and tattered appearance until it grows new, sleek fur!
Chinstrap Penguin - Chinstrap penguins are named for the narrow band of black feathers that extends from ear to ear. For nesting, they often select lofty sites that are the first to become snow-free, to ensure the maximum amount of time to raise their chicks. They are thought to be the most numerous penguin species with an estimated population of 12 to 13 million.
Ross Seal - Ross Seals are very rarely seen because they live deep within the consolidated pack-ice. It is believed that Ross Seals feed mainly on squid and, to a lesser extent, fish and krill. They were named after the British polar explorer Sir James Ross, who first discovered them in 1840.
Antarctica boasts the world's largest concentration of marine wildlife.
In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew set sail aboard the Endurance on a quest to be the first to cross the southernmost continent over land. They abandoned their attempt when they lost their ship. Incredibly, thanks to Shackleton's courage and determination, all crew members survived the harrowing ordeal.
Most cruise ships today visit the South Shetland Islands and the 1,000-mile long Antarctic Peninsula.
Antarctica is 1.5 times the size of the United States, including Alaska.
Seals are commonly found on the beaches, on icebergs and in the water.
A tabular berg can measure 100 miles in length. You have to see these monsters to believe them. There's so much ice in a berg that one can drift for years before finally melting completely.
It is possible to visit Antarctica for a few hours without going by sea. On a limited number of large-ship South America cruises, you can book a shore excursion and fly there (weather permitting) from Punta Arenas, Chile.
The flight takes about 3 1/2 hours each way.
Crystal Cruises offers a 12-hour trip where passengers actually land at the Chilean base on King George Island and then have about four hours on shore to see the base and the penguins.
The trip to Antarctica costs $2,150 per person.
If you're taking photos (almost everyone does), you'll need a waterproof backpack to carry your gear in the Zodiac.
Elephant Island, now the habitat of chinstrap and gentoo penguins, is where Shackleton's crew was stranded while he took five of his men in search of help. The whole crew was eventually rescued from the island, but not before they had spent the winter there.
Deception Island is the place to have your photo snapped while "swimming" in Antarctica. Actually, it's more of a dip than a swim, and a quick one at that.
You wear a bathing suit, run in the water and stay warm long enough for a photo.
The shallow area near shore contains thermal springs, thanks to volcanic activity.
Deception Island also has the remains of an abandoned British Antarctic Survey base and crumbling boilers from a Norwegian whaling operation. Whalers used the place from 1910 to 1931.
The British station at Port Lockroy on Wienke Island was secretly established by Churchill during World War II. Its function was to report enemy activity and provide weather reports.
Half Moon Island is the site of an Argentine research station and the wreck of an old wooden whaling boat. You'll find fur and elephant seals lazing on the beach.
The Lemaire Channel is one of the most spectacularly gorgeous waterways on the planet. It's obvious why it is nicknamed Kodak Gap. Think mountain peaks capped with pristine white snow, ice-blue bergs and clear, sapphire seas
The word Antarctica immediately reminds us of the icy mountains, glaciers and the igloos.
The continent of Antarctica is divided into two sub-continents – the East Antarctica and the West Antarctica.
The two sub-continents are separated by a long chain of Trans-antarctic Mountains of approximately 1,900 miles or 3,000 kilometers.
The region of East Antarctica consists mainly of high, ice-covered plateau.
The West Antarctica region consists of an archipelago of mountainous islands covered with ice.
The Antarctic region is surrounded by the southern parts of Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
The two principal bays in the continent are the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea.
On average, a penguin has 170 feathers per square inch; newborns are called pups.
Military activity such as weapons testing is prohibited.
A blue whale of Antarctica can produce up to 25 tons of whale oil.
Icebreaker ships, churning three 16-foot diameter propellers powered by 18,000 h/p engines, measure their speed in yards per hour. Moving in a herringbone pattern, the ship's 2-inch thick, steel reinforced, rounded bows are thrust atop the 6- to 10-foot- thick ice six to seven times an hour to crush it from above.
Icebergs and glaciers are color enhanced by red, blue and green algae.
Seven nations (Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom) claim portions of Antarctica as national territory.
Forty-five member nations of the Antarctic Treaty (1959) administer Antarctica in accordance with their own national laws. The United States does not recognize the claims of other countries.
250 million years ago, all the continents were joined into one huge land mass called Pangaea. The part that is now Antarctica was much closer to the equator, and it had tropical jungles.
About fifty million years ago, Antarctica became a separate land mass. Over time, it drifted toward the south pole and became covered with thick layers of ice.
Antarctica gets its name from the Greek language. In a bit of deviousness, the term because it means opposite the Arctic.
Antarctica's few areas that are not covered by ice are generally near the coast, They include the McMurdo Dry Valleys of southern Victoria Land, the Bunger Oasis in Wilkes Land, and isolated spits of land, and peaks of mountains — called nunataks — that are surrounded by ice.
The Antarctic Convergence, which encircles Antarctica roughly 1,500 kilometers off the coast, divides cold southern water masses and warmer northern waters.
An ocean current, the world's largest, moves eastward around the continent at an average speed of about half a knot.
Each winter, sea ice up to almost 10 feet (3 meters) thick forms outward from the continent, making a belt 300 to 900 miles (500 to 1,500 kilometers) wide.
Even in summer the sea ice belt is 90 to 500 miles (150 to 800 kilometers) wide in most places.
Antarctica was pulled south by the Earth's magnetic field, and at its core is the South Pole.
Nobody had crossed the Antarctic Circle before James Cook did so in 1773.
Captain James Cook, who was a British explorer, led the first recorded expedition into the Antarctic Circle, and while Cook and his men never spotted mainland Antarctica, they did allegedly discover the South Georgia and South Sandwich islands.
As for the first person to see the Antarctic continent, that distinction goes to a Russian naval officer and captain named Thaddeus Bellingshausen.
Two other parties, one led by a British captain named Edward Bransfield and the other led by an American sealer named Nathaniel Palmer, spotted mainland Antarctica in the same year as Bellingshausen.
An American captain and sealer named John Davis, who was actually born in Surrey, England, is believed by many historians to be the first to land on continental Antarctica.
As for facts about Antarctica that are indisputable, historians know that a British scientist and naval officer by the name of James Clark Ross discovered both the Ross Ice Shelf and Mt Erebus.
The first team to reach the South Pole was a five-man team led by Norwegian explorer Roald Admudsen. Their first arrival to the South Pole occurred on December 14, 1911.
One month later, a British captain named Robert Scott, who was Admudsen's rival, reached the South Pole with his crew. Scott and his party, however, tragically perished on their return trip.
Eskimos and polar bears are found in the Arctic, not the Antarctic.
The area below 60 degrees south enjoys one long day and one long night each year. The sun sets in March and rises in October.
The seasons in Antarctica are the opposite of the seasons in the Northern hemisphere--summer is October through February. Winter is March through September.
Scientists also study humans in Antarctica, doing research on how the human body adapts to cold and how the human mind and heart react to extreme isolation.
In 1935 when the first woman set foot there. Her name was Catherine Mikkelson, and she was the wife of a Norwegian whaling captain.
Most tourists who visit Antarctica visit the Antarctic Peninsula, which is accessible from Chile. There the climate is mild in comparison with the rest of the continent, and is teaming with wildlife. This part of Antarctica is sometimes called the "Banana Belt."
The largest invertebrate that makes its home permanently in Antarctica is a wingless midge called Beligica antarctica. It is so tiny it can only be seen well under a microscope.
Krills are crucial to the health and ecological balance of all the world's oceans.
Penguins are great swimmers. They can swim so fast, if they're trying, for instance, to escape the jaws of a leopard seal, that they can shoot out of the water 7 feet into the air onto a safe ice floe.
The mite is the largest land living animal of Antarctica, being just big enough to be seen without using a microscope. It manages to survive by producing chemicals that are akin to the anti-freeze used in cars in the winter.
It has been estimated that during the feeding season in Antarctica, a full grown blue whale eats about 4 million krill per day, that's 3600 kg or 4 tons - every day for 6 months. This daily intake would feed a human for about 4 years.
Antarctica has a peculiar group of fish called the ice fish. These have no red pigment - haemoglobin - in their blood to carry oxygen around. They get by perfectly well without it because the temperature is so low and oxygen dissolves better in cold temperatures. They just have a larger volume of clear blood instead and this gives them an unusually ghostly white colour, particularly their gills.
Recent research on the ice fish ahs shown that their DNA has been damaged by high levels of ultra violet light coming from the ozone hole. They have less pigment to stop the UV getting through.
A glaciologist could easily give you a drink of water that was frozen during the life of Christ.
Antarctica is the only continent with no indigenous species of ants.
- By Sunil R Yadav
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