Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The term Antarctic , referring to the opposite of the Arctic Circle , was coined by Marinus of Tyre in the 2nd century AD.
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica.These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and study facilities within their respective claimed territories; however, a number of such facilities are located outside of the area claimed by their ...
Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi). Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland.
Antarctica is the remotest part of the world, but it is a hub of scientific discovery, international diplomacy and environmental change. It was officially discovered 200 years ago, on Jan. 27 ...
Left to right: Roald Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting after first reaching the South Pole on 16 December 1911. The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent of Antarctica which began at the end of the 19th century, and ended after the First World War; the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cited by historians ...
This list of Antarctica expeditions is a chronological list of expeditions involving Antarctica. Although the existence of a southern continent had been hypothesized as early as the writings of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD, the South Pole was not reached until 1911.
Their ship, the Theron, arrived in Antarctica in January 1956 but six weeks later, a storm broke up the sea ice onto which 350 tonnes of stores had been unloaded. Among the losses was a ...
'The Quickening,' by Elizabeth Rush, records a journey to a glacier whose melting threatens the planet, even as the author ponders motherhood.