Antarctica
hideAntarctica (pronounced /ænˈtɑrktɪkə/ ( listen), is Earth's southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km² (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice, which averages at least 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mi) in thickness.
Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 inches) along the coast and far less inland. There are no permanent human residents but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, seals, many types of algae, and Tundra vegetation.
Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ("Southern Land") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Mikhail Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The continent, however, remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of resources, and isolation. The first formal use of the name "Antarctica" as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. The name Antarctica is the romanized version of the Greek compound word ανταρκτική (antarktiké), feminine of ανταρκτικός (antarktikos), meaning "opposite to the north".
The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by twelve countries; to date, forty-six countries have signed the treaty. The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists of many nationalities and with different research interests.
For more information about Antarctica, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with antarctica
Antarctic ice loss vaster, faster than thought: study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 22, 2009 |
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The East Antarctic icesheet, once seen as largely unaffected by global warming, has lost billions of tonnes of ice since 2006 and could boost sea levels in the future, according to a new study.
Rosetta sees a living planet
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Images and data taken just before closest approach were downloaded this morning, and they show the lights of North America in the night and a glowing Southern Hemisphere.
Antarctic expedition studies survival strategies of Weddell seals
Oct 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Eight years after her last major expedition to Antarctica, biologist Terrie Williams is back on the ice. This time, however, her team began the expedition during the Antarctic winter, the ...
Algae and pollen grains provide evidence of remarkably warm period in Antarctica's history
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 01, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (12) |
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For Sophie Warny, LSU assistant professor of geology and geophysics and curator at the LSU Museum of Natural Science, years of patience in analyzing Antarctic samples with low fossil recovery finally led to a scientific breakthrough. ...
NASA Ice Satellite Maps Profound Polar Thinning
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have used NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) to compose the most comprehensive picture of changing glaciers along the coast of the Greenland and Antarctic ...
Digging deeper below Antarctica's Lake Vida
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 14, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Antarctica's Lake Vida, a geologic curiosity that is essentially an ice bottle of brine, is home to some of the oldest and coldest living organisms on Earth. Perpetually covered by more than 60 feet of ice, ...
Map Characterizes Active Lakes Below Antarctic Ice (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 25, 2009 |
4 / 5 (6) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Lakes in Antarctica, concealed under miles of ice, require scientists to come up with creative ways to identify and analyze these hidden features. Now, researchers using space-based lasers ...
Scientists propose Antarctic location for 'missing' ice sheet
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 25, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (2) |
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New research by scientists at UC Santa Barbara indicates a possible Antarctic location for ice that seemed to be missing at a key point in climate history 34 million years ago. The research, which has important ...
Antarctic glacier thinning at alarming rate
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 14, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (13) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The thinning of a gigantic glacier in Antarctica is accelerating, scientists warned today.
Early initiation of Arctic sea-ice formation
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 15, 2009 |
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Significant sea ice formation occurred in the Arctic earlier than previously thought is the conclusion of a study published this week in Nature. "The results are also especially exciting because they suggest that sea ice fo ...
Nations set new tourism limits for Antarctica
Apr 19, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Countries with interests in Antarctica have endorsed U.S.-proposed mandatory limits on Antarctic tourism that aim to protect the continent's fragile environment, officials said Friday.
Catastrophic sea levels 'distinct possibility' this century: study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 15, 2009 |
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A breakthrough study of fluctuations in sea levels the last time Earth was between ice ages, as it is now, shows that oceans rose some three meters in only decades due to collapsing ice sheets.
Crossing the icy unknown, hunting climate clues
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 21, 2009 |
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(AP) -- On the 27th day of their trek, a dozen "black specks" of humanity crawling across Antarctica's vast white silence, Lou Albershardt heard a sound she'd never heard in two decades on the ice.
Robot sub searches for signs of melting 60 km into an Antarctic ice shelf cavity
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 17, 2009 |
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Autosub, a robot submarine built and developed by the UK's National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, has successfully completed a high-risk campaign of six missions travelling under an Antarctic glacier.
New fish discovered in the Bellingshausen Sea
Mar 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The new species of Antarctic fish, Gosztonyia antarctica, has been discovered at a depth of 650 metres in the Bellingshausen Sea in the Antarctic Ocean, an area which has not been studied ...
