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Antarctica
Quick Overview:
In Antarctica, the landscape is reduced to its barest elements: ice, rock, water and sky. But within those elements are surprising variations, both subtle and dramatic. Ice appears in endless shapes, forms, colors—from floes and bergs to sheets and shelves. There are old ice and fast ice, grease ice and pancake ice, striated ice and fractured ice. And, of course, there is thin ice—the element of the unknown that sometimes makes travelers realize their vulnerability on the coldest, driest, windiest, highest and remotest of continents. But then that's why we go there. Nearly 100 years ago, the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton wrote of Antarctica's lure: "Some are actuated simply by a love of adventure, some have the keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others again are drawn away from the trodden paths by the 'lure of little voices,' the mysterious fascination of the unknown." Whatever the exact purpose, a visit to Antarctica is not just a trip: It's an unpredictable journey. But once you arrive, you'll be rewarded with an incredible view of a world few people have seen: thousands of penguins, elephant seals and icebergs—even volcanoes and thermal springs. In the past few years, Antarctica has gotten so popular, especially with travelers interested in nature-based tourism, that concerns have been raised about the continent's delicate ecosystem. Proposals have been made to protect it by restricting the number of visitors, but none has been adopted. For now, tour operators are supposed to ensure that travelers have as little impact as possible on the wildlife and the environment. Visitors, for example, are usually forbidden from approaching too close to wildlife.
Geography:
The search for Antarctica was the last great adventure of global exploration. It's an epic tale spanning centuries of high adventure, from the "unknown southern land" of the ancients to the first recorded sightings of the continent in 1820. Antarctica was finally explored, and plundered, during an Age of Discovery by whalers and sealers who ventured into icy waters below the Antarctic Convergence. Then came an Heroic Era, when the great explorers such as Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Douglas Mawson and Roald Amundsen ventured ever deeper into the vast whiteness of the interior, in search of the final "holy grail" of discovery, the South Pole. With the coming of the Mechanical Era, airplanes replaced huskies as the vehicle of choice for conquering a continent. Finally came the advent of the Scientific Era, and the lessons of the 18-month-long International Geophysical Year (1957-1959), which shed the light of knowledge on Antarctica. The land's history reaches a pinnacle with the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, protecting the last continent for future generations and centuries.
Related Links:
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News |
Offical Sites Antarctica | The Antarctic Australian divison. British Antarctic Survey Site |
Country Guides CoolAntarctica |
Education |