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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.
A speculative representation of Antarctica labelled as ' Terra Australis Incognita ' on Jan Janssonius's Zeekaart van het Zuidpoolgebied (1657), Het Scheepvaartmuseum The name given to the continent originates from the word antarctic, which comes from Middle French antartique or antarctique (' opposite to the Arctic ') and, in turn, the Latin antarcticus (' opposite to the north ').
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, [1] [note 4] comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. [5] With a size of 21,960,000 km 2 (8,480,000 sq mi), it is the second-smallest of the five principal oceanic divisions, smaller than the Pacific ...
Antarctica and surrounding islands in relation to the Antarctic Convergence and the 60th parallel south. The following list of island groups contains the largest or most notable islands in their respective group. A more detailed list of islands in a given group may be found on their respective pages, when applicable.
The first person to report a fossil in the Antarctic was American naturalist James Eights in 1829, who landed probably on King George Island and found a fossilized log measuring 2.5 ft (0.76 m) in length and 4 in (100 mm) in diameter. Eights left the fossil where he found it, rather than collecting and formally describing it. [5]
The colder, stabler East Antarctica had been experiencing cooling until the 2000s. [22] [23] Around Antarctica, the Southern Ocean has absorbed more oceanic heat than any other ocean, [24] and has seen strong warming at depths below 2,000 m (6,600 ft). [25]: 1230 Around the West Antarctic, the ocean has warmed by 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1955. [21]
The penguin in this video is an Adélie penguin native to Antarctica. This species is only found on that continent, where it is widespread alongside the emperor penguin.
Antarctica's two flowering plant species, the Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) are found on the northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula, including offshore islands, where the climate is relatively mild. Lagotellerie Island in Marguerite Bay is an example of this habitat.