The the Antarctic is the southernmost Continent of the Ground. Located at the South pole, it is surrounded of the southern icy Océan. It is also bordered by the Mer of Ross and the sea of Wedell.

With a surface of 13,9 million square kilometers, the Antarctic is smaller than the Asia, the Africa, the North America and the South America. Only the Europe and the Oceania are smaller than him. Some 98% of its surface are covered with a layer of ice making on average 1,6 km thickness.

The Antarctic is the coldest continent, driest and windiest. It is also the highest continent above the sea level. Since it falls only little precipitations there, except on the coasts, the interior of the continent technically constitutes the largest desert of the world. It there not of permanent population, and the forever known Antarctic of population natives. Only cold plants and adapted animals survive it, including Manchot S, Phoque S, Mousse S, Lichen S and many types of Algue S.

The name the Antarctic comes from the Greek ἀνταρκτικός ( antarktikós ), which means “opposite with the Arctique”. Although myths and speculations concerning a Terra Australis (" Australe" ground;) go back to the Antiquité, it is considered in general that the continent was seen for the first time in 1820 by the Russian forwarding of Mikhail Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. However, the continent remained overall neglected during the remainder of the 19th century, because of its hostile environment, of its lack of resources, and its isolated site.

The Traité on the Antarctic was signed in 1959 by 12 States. It was supplemented in 1991 by the Protocol with the Treaty on the Antarctic relating to environmental protection in the Antarctic. It prohibits the military activities, the exploitation of the mineral resources except those which are led to fine scientists. It gives the scientific priority to the research activities. The experiments in progress are carried out by more than 4.000 scientists of various nationalities and having different interests.

Divide continent in eight country

Seven States have territorial claims in the Antarctic. A sector of the Antarctic was not asserted (Ground Marie Byrd).

} | 1929 |- | the United Kingdom | British Territory of the Antarctic | with | 1908 | 1.950.000 km ² |}

Geopolitical chart

History

See also: History of the Antarctic

A history related to the shape of the Earth

Its history is very related to the many assumptions concerning the form of the Ground.

The majority of the sources agree to affirm that it is Aristote which names the first this continent. Indeed, the Greek think at the time that the Earth being a symmetrical sphere, it is necessary necessarily a point for him of balance, a " pivot" ( sports shirts in Greek) on both sides of the equator: the Arctic ( Arktos in Greek) and its opposite ( anti ), the Antarctic ( Antarktos ). Arktos means “bear”, in reference to the star constellation indicating north, still called today “Petite Ourse”.

At the 2nd century, Ptolémée (Greek astronomer), is persuaded that the continent exists, at the point to affirm that these grounds are inhabited and cultivated, but remain inaccessible to the remainder of the Earth because of a large insuperable strip of land sheltering of the monsters.

But with the Moyen-âge, the scientists give up the reflections on this continent, finding strange that God forgot part of its Creation on these grounds if moved back. One starts to reconsider that the Earth is punt, which excludes the existence from the Antarctic (from a geographical point of view).

One reconsiders there as from the 15th century, when Bartolomeu Dias de Noveas and Vasco de Gama discovers new grounds. The latter exceed the Cape of Good Hope (in the south of the Africa) and thus refute the assumption of a wide African continent until the Southern high latitudes. Nevertheless, when Ferdinand Magellan circumvents the south of the American continent, he discovers that he exists there a Détroit difficult to cross, and beyond whose a thick snowy coat appears under a very cold climate.

Blow the geographers of the time put forth the assumption that an immense continent called Austral continent on the planispheres of the time exists and that it would be continuous Ground of Fire to the Australia.

First steps towards the discovery

Since 1578, Francis Drake, sent by the English government to explore the Peaceful , is pulled by the storm in the south of the Earth of fire. He sees penguins on an island.

In 1599, the Dutchman Dirk Gerritz, carried by a storm far from his squadron until the Shetland Islands of the South, is the first navigator to cross the Polar circle the Antarctic (latitude 66°  33 ' south).

During the 17th century, other navigators, while trying to cross the Cape Horn, are thorough towards the Antarctic by storms and see mountains covered with snows and ices.

In 1738, Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet of Lozier, missionné by the Company of the Indies to discover unknown grounds and to establish counters there, discovers a misty island which it will take for a continent: current the island Grooving plane (54° 26 ' of Southern latitude).

In 1772, Nicolas Thomas Marion-Dufresne, assisted by the captain Julien Crozet on board the Mascarin , discovers the islands Froides (today the Archipel of the Prince-Edouard) and the island Aride (the current island of the East of the Archipel Crozet).

During its second forwarding, including/understanding the ships the Resolution and the Adventure , James Cook explores the southern seas in the search of a hypothetical southern continent.

Left the Cape of Good Hope on September 22nd, 1772, it is stopped twice by the ice-barrier and regains the New Zealand after having exceeded the parallel 61e.

January 30th, 1774, the Resolution meets the ice-barrier after two months of navigation in the south of New Zealand and to have crossed the parallel 70e for the first time in the history. Cook then discovers a plain of ice, in which it counts quatre-ving-dix-sept icebergs, very broad and resembling an assembly line rising the ones on the others and losing themselves in the clouds.

Advancing until 71°  10 ' of southern latitude and 106°  54 ' of western longitude (position close to the island Thurston, Sea of Amundsen), he hears “penguins” (penguins) and sees some birds, but convinces himself of the absence of grounds in this sea and gives up seeking a passage towards the south through the ices.

According to certain organizations (the the National Science Foundation, NASA, the the University of California with San Diego and others), the first confirmed outline of the Antarctic was carried out in 1820 by the crews of ships whose three captains were: Fabian von Bellingshausen (a captain of the Russian Imperial Navy), Edward Bransfield (a captain of the brittanic Navy), and Nathaniel Micrometer caliper (an American sailor of Stonington, Connecticut). One supposes that Von Bellingshausen saw the Antarctic the January 27th 1820, three days before Bransfield saw the ground, and ten months before Palmer in November 1820 did not do it. This day, forwarding including/understanding two ships, carried out by Von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev reached a point located at 32 km of the continent and saw fields of ice there.

The exploration of the continent

At the 19th century, many boats come to fish the seal along banks of the continent.

It is the January 21st 1840 which French explorers, ordered by Dumont d' Urville plant their flag on the antarctic grounds. A few days later, it is with the tower of the American fleet of Charles Wilkes that point to reach. The discovery is then discussed.

The first scientific exhibition is sent in 1839 by the British, thanks to an association between the British Association for the Advancement off Science and the Royal Society. It includes/understands doctors, naturalists and botanists.

In 1841, the explorer James Clark Ross crossed current the Mer of Ross and discovered the Île of Ross. The Mount Erebus and the Mont Terror bear the names of two of the boats of forwarding: HMS '' Erebus '' and the Terror . Mercator Cooper, as for him, accosted in the Antarctic of the East the January 26th 1853.

The period 1895-1922 corresponds to the heroic age of exploration in the Antarctic, during which many forwardings are carried out in order to arrive at the south pole.

In 1897 - 1898, the scientific forwarding of exploration of the Belgica , carried out by the commander Adrien de Gerlache, is composed of an international crew with Roald Amundsen for second lieutenant. This last will take part in the race with the geographical south pole, and will be the first to be reached that point, on December 15th, 1911, in a time reduced thanks to the use of skis and huskies. Robert Scott, English, arrives one month later. He dies on the way of the return. In 1914, the Hope, an English ship ordered by Sir Ernest Shackleton, share with 28 men to cross the Antarctic. But the boat is taken in the ices. The crew succeeds in returning healthy and except while crossing ocean and mountains without living and material.

In 1928, George Wilkins flies over the continent for the first time.

In 1946, the the United States, on the initiative of the Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, organize the most important forwarding sent to date in the Antarctic, the Opération Highjump:

  • 4.700 people;
  • 13 boats of which an aircraft carrier; 25 planes, including two Seaplane S PBY Mariner.

The Opération Highjump will be followed the next southern summer (1947 - 1948), by the Opération Windmill with the reason for under-exposure of the stereotypes taken at the time of the preceding countryside.

November 24th 1957 with the March 2nd 1958, the Expédition Fuchs-Hillary crosses for the first time by terrestrial way the continent. Displacement is carried out using Autoneige S of Tucker mark. One takes statements seismological, gravimetric, etc throughout forwarding. One measures the thickness of ice to the South pole and the presence of the continent or this one.

The scientific conquest of the continent

The Traité on the Antarctic is signed on February 1st 1959 in Washington by 12 countries (the Argentine, the Australia, the Belgium, the Chile, the France, the Japan, the New Zealand, the Norway, the South Africa, the the USSR (current Russia), the the United Kingdom, the Northern Ireland and the the United States. At present, 45 States ratified it.

Geography

Situation

The Antarctic is surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean, covered by an ice-barrier thickness and variable extent according to the season, but which can exceed the 60 {{E}} parallel at southern spring.

The navigators with the research of the southern continent thus initially met the islands (cf Liste of the islands of the Antarctic) free of ice during most of the year, like:

Relief

The Antarctic is cut in two unequal parts by the Monts Transantarctiques, assembly line 2500 kilometers length, forming a curve in “S” from the coast of the Mer of Weddell (vis-a-vis the island Berkner) to the coast of the Antarctic Ocean vis-a-vis the islands Balleny. These mounts border the Barrière of Ross on nearly 1000 kilometers; it is there that more the high summits are (while moving away from the south pole):

  • the Mount Fridtjof-Nansen, 4069 meters;
  • the Mount Kirkpatrick, 4569 meters;
  • the Mount Markham, 4351 meters.

However, the culminating point of the Antarctic is in the mounts of Ellsworth, with the Massif Vinson with 4897 meters; these mounts dominate the most Western part of the Mer of Weddell (Barrière of Ronne).

The part of the continent delimited by the Transantarctiques mounts and which faces the oceans Atlantique and Indien is called the Eastern Antarctic . It forms a plate of approximately 10 million square kilometers, covered with an important layer of ice: this one thus reached a maximum altitude of 4030 meters near the center of this plate, whereas the rock base hardly exceeds the 1000 meters.

The other part of the continent is called the Western Antarctic ; it includes/understands the Ground Marie Byrd, the ground of Ellsworth and the Péninsule the Antarctic, of which the broadest part is the Ground of Micrometer caliper, whereas its narrow northern end constitutes the Ground of Graham.

It is in the Antarctic peninsula that are the majority of the not frozen zones of the continent, where levels the rock. This peninsula is surrounded many islands, of which the largest island of the Antarctic, the island Alexandre-I {{p|er}} (49070 km ²), which borders in the west the ground of Micrometer caliper; connected to the continent by a frozen extent (the strait of George-V), this island was called ground Alexandre-Ier until the description of its insularity.

The Inlandsis, which recovers the major part of the grounds, extends locally on the sea in permanent barriers from ice, like the barriers of Ronne and Filchner on the sea of Weddell (in the east of the Antarctic peninsula), or the Barrière of Ross on the Mer of Ross; these barriers of drift ice merge almost with the continental part frozen on the image of left (above), but arise in blue-green on the image of right-hand side.

The volume of the ices which recovers the Antarctic continent approaches the 30000000 km ³, which corresponds to an average thickness of the ice cap higher than 2000 meters.

The average altitude calculated above the level of the ice being close to 2300 meters, the average altitude of the continent (the rock base) thus does not exceed a few hundred meters, this even without entering the “continental” areas whose altitude is lower than the sea level (like the pit subglaciale of Bentley, in the Antarctic Eastern, whose point low is with 2499 meters below the sea level).

The Antarctic also comprises many stretches of water subglaciaires, of which largest is the Lac Vostok, with a surface of 14000 km ². Drillings in this area made it possible to measure the thickness of the cap of ice which is of 3.6 km.

Climate

The Antarctic continent holds the record of the lowest temperature of the world, with -89,2  °C with the Base the Antarctic Vostok (Russian installed in 1957 bases):

  • during the southern winter, the temperature can reach -70  °C in the grounds and -35  °C on the coasts;

  • in summer, the temperature varies between -35  °C in the grounds and 5  °C on the coasts.

The Ice cap which recovers to it quasi totality of the surface of the continent, reached more than 4500 m thickness by places; it constitutes 90  % of fresh water of the sphere.

Despite everything snow and the ice which recovers the Antarctic, an important part of the continent, whose annual precipitations are lower than 50 mm, can be comparable with a Désert.

As an geographical area with the polar climate, the Antarctic is thus not very favourable with the life and the human activities.

Geology

Flora and fauna

The the Antarctic is one of the eight écozone terrestrial S or biogeographic areas.

The Antarctic Ocean contains a important biomass thanks to water very rich in nutrients and Oxygène. A true border of fog separates it from the other oceans when the temperature passes in a few kilometers of 6 to 16  °C on average.

The fauna marine, very full of fish, also includes/understands:

The coasts and the islands contain many birds:

Lastly, several species of seals populate the littoral. On the other hand, there are only very few animals in the middle of the continental grounds, and those remain close to microscopic organizations.

The climate of the Région the Antarctic does not allow a dense vegetation. Indeed, the freezing temperatures, the poor quality of the ground, the lack of moisture and luminosity prevent the Plante S from developing. The Antarctic flora limits mainly to some foams and hepathic S.

Economic activity

See also: List of antarctic bases

Certain states maintain a presence human permanent or semi-permanent, in bases with scientific vocation primarily . These bases are supplied by the sea during the polar summer, when the withdrawal or the reduction thickness of the Banquise makes it possible the Navire S to approach sufficient the coasts.

Scientific exhibitions are in particular sent within the framework of the program ANSMET for the search and the harvest for Météorite S, available in quantity on the continent.

The beauty of the landscapes and the richness of fauna support a certain tourist activity. Tourism of reduced scale exists since 1957. It is controlled mainly by the IAATO (International association of the Operators Turn of the Antarctic). According to this organization, approximately 27.950 tourists visited the Antarctic during the summer season 2004-2005, and this number could grow up to 80.000 per annum from here 2010.

Gold or nickel, hydrocarbon, coal layers were discovered, but not in sufficient quantities to allow a profitable exploitation, and the Protocole of Madrid of 1991 limit in addition a possible exploitation of the natural resources of the Antarctic.

Policy

The Antarctic continent is the subject currently of a legal mode defined by the Traité on the Antarctic of 1959. This treaty recognizes the continent like a ground favourable with the scientific research, and within this framework, with the international cooperation.

The Treaty on the Antarctic also establishes a " gel" territorial claims. Indeed, because of proximity geographical of their Metropolis or by interest geostrategic or economic (within sight of probable the natural resources which its basement comprises), of the States portions of the continent asserted.

The majority of the portions are kinds of sections on the basis of the South pole, going to the ocean, and whose edges are Méridien S. In certain cases, these sectors are even asserted by several States (the Antarctic peninsula is thus asserted by Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom).

The Treaty on the Antarctic organizes a " gel" territorial claims thus emitted. That means that France, for example, can continue to affirm that the Ad3elie coast concerns the French right whereas other States, on the contrary, can consider that the Antarctic is an international space.

Seek

2007. According to Meier Mark of the University of the Colorado (Boulder, the United States), the cast iron of the ices of the Greenland and the Antarctic would contribute only to respective heights of 28% and 12% with the rise in the sea level. The small brooks forming the large rivers, in fact rather the small glaciers of the world, melting from now on at an accelerated speed, would contribute to surplus contributions of 417 billion cubic meters out of water per annum, and should remain the largest contributors until the end of the century. Then the marine level will have risen from 10 to 25 cm.

Fiction

  • Mists of time , of Rene Barjavel, where the French polar Expéditions discover two cryonautes human belonging to 900.000 years an old civilization, surprised by the sudden swing of the terrestrial axis.
  • Antarctica , called Mars white the , a novel by Kim Stanley Robinson.
  • White , of Marie Darrieussecq.
  • the Sarcophagi of the 6th continent , volumes 1 and 2, a cartoon of Blake and Mortimer by Yves Feels and André Juillard.
  • hallucinated Mountains , (At the Mountains off Madness, 1931), a news of Howard Philips Lovecraft in which an scientific exhibition discovers a city lost in the middle of the Antarctic.
  • adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym , Edgar Poe, and its continuation the Sphinx of the ices , by Jules Verne.
  • In the televised series Stargate SG1, a weapon created by the Old ones is hidden close to the American scientific base of McMurdo.
  • is evoked as bases extraterrestrial in The X Files, the film .
  • In the series " The Company of Glaces" G.J Arnaud, continent chosen by the People of the Cold " Roux".
  • The Thing , of John Carpenter (1982) where an scientific exhibition is contaminated by an extraterrestrial virus of origin

References

See too

Related articles

External bonds

  • Site of the International Polar Foundation - Animations multimedia, projects, resources,…
  • the Antarctic on the site of the polar Institute French Paul Emile Victor
  • Scientific expedition of the SEDNA on global warming
  • the Antarctic and the exploration of Belgica on the site antarctique.be
  • Given general and geological history of the Antarctic
  • Forwardings in the Antarctic on the site antarctica.org
  • right of the Antarctic
  • SCAR-MarBIN: Marine Biodiversity Network Information. Free access with the data on the biodiversity marinades the Antarctic
  • Antarctica online
  • South-Pole.com Site dedicated to the explorers of the Antarctic and the surrounding islands
  • Bulgarian Commission for toponymy the Antarctic
  • illustrated Carte of the Livingston island and the island Greenwich
  • Expéditions in antartic the diversity of shellfish of sea-beds

Beats-smg: Antarktėda Be-X-old: Антарктыда Simple: Antarctica Zh-classical: 南極洲 Zh-min-nan: Lâm-ke̍k Tāi-lio̍k Zh-yue: 南極洲

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