Summary Points For Antarctica
Antarctica is often described as the continent of superlatives being the world’s southernmost continent. It is also the highest, driest, windiest, coldest and iciest continent.
At its thickest point the ice sheet is 4,776 meters deep.
Somewhere In, Antarctica Friday, February 3, 2017
On our third day in Antarctica, we visited the Antarctic Sound. It is a stretch of water named after the first ship to have passed through this body of water from the Bransfield Strait to the Weddel Sea in 1902.
The Sounds main attraction are the spectacular tubular icebergs that come from the Larsen Ice Shelf further south. Please see some pictures along with this blog entry.
Anyway, here are summary points for Antarctica:
Antarctica surrounds the South Pole. The nearest landmass is South America, which is over 620 miles from the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Surface Area : 14 million square miles (36 Million square kilometers). You can put the entire continental United States of America in it plus a quarter of Canada.
Antarctica's clean air, water and ice are of importance to science for understanding how the Earth's environment is changing both naturally and as a result of human activity.
Twelve countries had territorial claims against Antarctica including overlapping claims by Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom. Interestingly, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union had any claims.
Icebergs are made of fresh water that started off as snow, falling and accumulating over many hundreds or thousands of years. They float around in sea water with the small ones weighing about hundreds of tonnes. typical ones weigh 100,000 + tonnes and the biggest ones billions of tonnes. They can be very beautiful but very dangerous.
So many kinds of whales are in abundance in Antarctica and one can hear their low rumble and explosive hiss of their spout!
Chinstrap penguins is another specie of penguins that inhabits the Antarctic and Southern Pacific.
At other times, it sounded like a cannon shot before the whales plunge into the water !
Main threats to Antarctica are:
Global warming - It is real and it is happening faster in some parts of the world compared to others.
Fishing both legal and illegal.
Tourism - with the accompanying pollutants that accompany ships and aircraft, the possibility of oil spills and the effect of of lots of people and infrastructure on wildlife and the wider environment.
Pollution - direct impacts associated with the development of infrastructure for scientific bases and programs.
In the Antarctic Peninsula, seven ice shelves have between them declined in area by about 13,500 km2 since 1974. This will certainly deposit more water in the Oceans and will add to an increase in sea-level. This situation is being assessed regularly.
Antarctica is a stunningly beautiful place, compelling with its landscapes and seascapes unlike any others you may have seen, Amongst its iceberg -flanked passageways and icy splendor is a unique group of wildlife that is a nirvana to a wildlife photographer as they are usually present in enormous concentration.
Being in Antarctica is like watching your scenery going by in 3D. It is a universe unto itself! Everything iconic here is absolutely true, penguins lining up to jump, prey snatching leopard seal, tail- slapping whales leaping out of the water, icy-blue waters and floating City-size icebergs. Yet, beneath this beauty lies a layer of complexity, infinitely enriching the picture.
Humpback whales feed on krill and various small fish and planktons during their migration south.
Recently attitudes have changed as we begin to realize that there are very few untouched places on Earth like Antarctica and that they are important to humanity. As travel to Antarctica is expensive, tourists tend to be more educated and affluent than the average tourists. They are more receptive to the message of conservation which is reinforced by the educational atmosphere on board the ships where majority of tourism in Antarctica is based.
Macaroni penguin is a specie of penguins found in Antarctic peninsula.
As we all head back home, many of us, myself and Bert included, will be celebrating something different. That day of sun, and sea and fun and excitement that we had in Antarctica. We're so blessed and lucky to have experienced it and we would like to be Goodwill Ambassadors for Antarctica!
Comments:
Soooo many little Tuxedos..... I Love Penguins!!!!! Xo From Kim Connelly, on Feb 15, 2017 at 02:19 PM