Even in the late 17th century, after explorers had found that South America and Australia were not part of the fabled "Antarctica", geographers believed that the continent was much larger than its actual size. In 1983 the Antarctic Treaty Parties began negotiations on a convention to regulate mining in Antarctica. This reduced the formation of the 'polar stratospheric clouds' that enable the chemistry that leads to rapid ozone loss. During the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event about 34 million years ago, CO2 levels have been found to be about 760 ppm,[84] and had been decreasing from earlier levels in the thousands of ppm. [29], The First Russian Antarctic Expedition led by Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on the 985-ton sloop-of-war Vostok ("East") and the 530-ton support vessel Mirny ("Peaceful") reached a point within 32 km (20 mi) of Queen Maud's Land and recorded the sight of an ice shelf at .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}69°21′28″S 2°14′50″W / 69.35778°S 2.24722°W / -69.35778; -2.24722,[30] on 27 January 1820,[31] which became known as the Fimbul ice shelf. Dictionary entry overview: What does Antarctica mean? [138] Members of Chironomidae include Parochlus steinenii. [123], The Antarctic ice sheet is losing mass as ice flows faster into the ocean than before. Antarctic 10- A person of the opposite sex who might be considered a "5" elsewhere. [139] Antarctic krill, which congregate in large schools, is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, and is an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, penguins, albatrosses and many other birds. On top of this base are coal and various modern rocks, such as sandstones, limestones and shales laid down during the Devonian and Jurassic periods to form the Transantarctic Mountains. [88] After that, the Pleistocene ice age covered the whole continent and destroyed all major plant life on it. The only anomalous area of West Antarctica is the Ellsworth Mountains region, where the stratigraphy is more similar to East Antarctica. * It keeps the all-important Earth balanced. Antarctica definition: a continent around the South Pole : consists of an ice-covered plateau , 1800–3000 m... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples [118] Parts of this ice sheet form moving glaciers known as ice streams, which flow towards the edges of the continent. Tipping points have been identified in some regions; when a certain threshold warming is reached, these regions may start melting significantly faster and irreversibly. [147][154], Seven hundred species of algae exist, most of which are phytoplankton. [208], Meteorites from Antarctica are an important area of study of material formed early in the solar system; most are thought to come from asteroids, but some may have originated on larger planets. [192][193][194] As of 2015, there are two Wells Fargo ATMs in Antarctica, both located at McMurdo Station. Positioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle, Antarctica is the southernmost continent and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean; alternatively, it may be considered to be surrounded by the southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, or by the southern waters of the World Ocean. [157][158][needs update], Several governments maintain permanent staffed research stations on the continent. However, belief in the existence of a Terra Australis—a vast continent in the far south of the globe to "balance" the northern lands of Europe, Asia and North Africa—had prevailed since the times of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD. [178] The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the "Madrid Protocol") was negotiated as other countries followed suit and on 14 January 1998 it entered into force. The overfishing of krill, which plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem, led officials to enact regulations on fishing. 43%. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. Antarctica is made up of lots of ice in the form of glaciers, ice shelves and icebergs. Despite the lack of precipitation over the central portion of the continent, ice there lasts for extended periods. It is true that there are no bears in Antarctica, but the name comes from a Roman version of the Greek word that is antarktike. She was a daughter of Fridthjof Jacobsen, the assistant manager of the whaling station, and Klara Olette Jacobsen. (an extensive forest may have flourished about 3 million years ago)", "East Antarctic deglaciation and the link to global cooling during the Quaternary: evidence from glacial geomorphology and 10Be surface exposure dating of the Sør Rondane Mountains, Dronning Maud Land", "Chapter 2: The Geology and Geomorphology of Antarctica", "Uplift and tilting of the Shackleton Range in East Antarctica driven by glacial erosion and normal faulting", "Cenozoic geodynamics of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica: Crustal extension, intraplate strike‐slip faulting, and tectonic inheritance", "In 30 years the Antarctic Treaty becomes modifiable, and the fate of a continent could hang in the balance", "Antarctica records unofficial coldest temperature ever", "Antarctica temperature exceeds 20C for first time", "Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record", The Earth's Elliptical Orbit Around the Sun – Aphelion and Perihelion, "Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year", "Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades", "Antarctica appears to have broken a heat record", "Attribution of polar warming to human influence", "Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse Blamed on More Than Climate Change", "Ice Bridge Holding Antarctic Shelf in Place Shatters", "Understanding climate: Antarctic sea ice extent", "Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf", "Chapter 4: Sea Level Rise and Implications for Low Lying Islands, Coasts and Communities", "Facts / Vital signs / Ice Sheets / Antarctica Mass Variation Since 2002", "History, mass loss, structure, and dynamic behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet", "Mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2017", "Four decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance from 1979–2017", "Constraining the mass balance of East Antarctica", "The uncertain future of the Antarctic Ice Sheet", "Large, Deep Antarctic Ozone Hole Persisting into November", "Non-annular atmospheric circulation change induced by stratospheric ozone depletion and its role in the recent increase of Antarctic sea ice extent", "Stratospheric Ozone-induced Cloud Radiative Effects on Antarctic Sea Ice", Antarctic volcanoes help preserve life in the freezer – The Conversation, "Antarctic Bestiary – Terrestrial Animals", "Genome sequencing of the winged midge, Parochlus steinenii, from the Antarctic Peninsula", "The different breeding strategies of penguins: A review", "Non-lichenized fungi from the Antarctic region", "Fungi at the edge of life: cryptoendolithic black fungi from Antarctic desert", "Survival of Black Fungi in Space, Preliminary Results", "Bacteria Found Deep Under Antarctic Ice, Scientists Say", "Conservation issues for Antarctic fungi", "Flock of Antarctica's Orthodox temple celebrates Holy Trinity Day", "The power games that threaten world's last pristine wilderness", "Questions to the Sun for the 2002–03 season", "Norge utvider Dronning Maud Land helt frem til Sydpolen", "Greenpeace applauds Antarctic protection victory", "Antarctica: exploration or exploitation? * The sea level will rise if Antarctica… Charles Wilkes, and a separate French expedition under Jules Dumont d'Urville. [191], Small-scale "expedition tourism" has existed since 1957 and is currently subject to Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol provisions, but in effect self-regulated by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). In the summer more than 4,000 scientists operate research stations; this number decreases to just over 1,000 in the winter. An Orthodox church—Trinity Church, opened in 2004 at the Russian Bellingshausen Station—is manned year-round by one or two priests, who are similarly rotated every year. [42] The first women to set foot on Antarctica did so in the 1930s with Caroline Mikkelsen landing on an island of Antarctica in 1935,[43] and Ingrid Christensen stepping onto the mainland in 1937. [38], During the Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1907, parties led by Edgeworth David became the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the South Magnetic Pole. A continent lying chiefly within the Antarctic Circle and asymmetrically centered on the South Pole. In January 1840, terra firma at Antarctica was discovered for the first time, almost simultaneously, by the United States Exploring Expedition, under Lieut. Models of the changes suggest that declining CO2 levels became more important. [59] Antarctica contains many other mountains, on both the main continent and the surrounding islands. [129], There is a large area of low ozone concentration or "ozone hole" over Antarctica. [21] Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. First, much of the continent is more than 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, and temperature decreases with elevation in the troposphere. A major concern within this committee is the risk to Antarctica from unintentional introduction of non-native species from outside the region. Well, it means heaps of things, including- * Antarctica has a very unique environment. The portion west of the Weddell Sea and east of the Ross Sea is called West Antarctica and the remainder East Antarctica. [99] The lowest natural air temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. [15], In the early 19th century, the colonial authorities in Sydney removed the Dutch name from New Holland. [60] In 2004, a potentially active underwater volcano was found in the Antarctic Peninsula by American and Canadian researchers. A study by Eric Steig published in 2009 noted for the first time that the continent-wide average surface temperature trend of Antarctica was slightly positive from 1957 to 2006. Military personnel or equipment are permitted only for scientific research or other peaceful purposes. [14], The long-imagined (but undiscovered) south polar continent was originally called Terra Australis, sometimes shortened to Australia as seen in a woodcut illustration titled "Sphere of the winds", contained in an astrological textbook published in Frankfurt in 1545. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi; 6,200 ft) in thickness,[5] which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula. Exploitation of all mineral resources is banned until 2048 by the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. [133] In 2019, the ozone hole was at its smallest in the previous thirty years, due to the warmer polar stratosphere weakening the polar vortex. By the end of the Cretaceous, about 66 Ma, Antarctica (then connected to Australia) still had a subtropical climate and flora, complete with a marsupial fauna. Antarctica means 'no bears are all mythical'. Asteroid TC4's closest approach to Earth will be over Antarctica at 1:42 AM EDT on Oct. 12 (10:42 p.m. PDT on Oct. 11). [177] The following year, however, Australia and France announced that they would not ratify the convention, rendering it dead for all intents and purposes. [198], About thirty countries maintain about seventy research stations (40-year-round or permanent, and 30 summer-only) in Antarctica, with an approximate population of 4000 in summer and 1000 in winter. [56] Several Antarctic ice streams flow to one of the many Antarctic ice shelves, a process known as ice-sheet dynamics. The ice was being held back by a "thread" of ice about 6 km (4 mi) wide,[114][115] prior to its collapse on 5 April 2009.[116][117]. Most of the whalers were Norwegian, with an increasing proportion of Britons. Antarctic definition is - of or relating to the south pole or to the region near it. A - factor - The Antarctic factor, unexpected extra difficulties presented by Antarctica.Aus. The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecology. There are about 100 species of mosses and 25 species of liverworts, but only three species of flowering plants, all of which are found in the Antarctic Peninsula: Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hair grass), Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort) and the non-native Poa annua (annual bluegrass). [93], The most common rocks in West Antarctica are andesite and rhyolite volcanics formed during the Jurassic period. [1] McMurdo Station, which is the largest research station in Antarctica, is capable of housing more than 1,000 scientists, visitors, and tourists. Antarctic sea life includes penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals. Different country calling codes and currencies[199] are used for different settlements, depending on the administrating country. [196] The primary response by Antarctic Treaty Parties has been to develop, through their Committee for Environmental Protection and in partnership with IAATO, "site use guidelines" setting landing limits and closed or restricted zones on the more frequently visited sites. Proper usage and audio pronunciation (plus IPA phonetic transcription) of the word Antarctic. Near the Arctic. [50] For this crossing, Ousland also holds the record for the fastest unsupported journey to the South Pole, taking just 34 days. A possible explanation for the difference between the Antarctic and the Arctic, which has seen rapid sea ice loss, is that thermohaline circulation transports warmed water to deeper layers in the ocean. Antarctica is noted as the last region on Earth in recorded history to be discovered, unseen until 1820 when the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny sighted the Fimbul ice shelf. [70], During the Cambrian period, Gondwana had a mild climate. I will spend most of my time on the coast where it could still be windy and cold but low altitude and likely wet. Definition of Antarctic in the AudioEnglish.org Dictionary. [62], There is some evidence, in the form of ice cores drilled to about 400 m (1,300 ft) above the water line, that Lake Vostok's waters may contain microbial life. When I asked people what the Antarctic makes them think of, ‘climate change’ was one of the most common answers around the world. As a result, the continental mass of the East Antarctic ice sheet is held at lower temperatures, and the peripheral areas of Antarctica, especially the Antarctic Peninsula, are subject to higher temperatures, which promote accelerated melting. [71] West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere, and during this period large amounts of sandstones, limestones and shales were deposited. [37] Mercator Cooper landed in East Antarctica on 26 January 1853. [146], About 1,150 species of fungi have been recorded from Antarctica, of which about 750 are non-lichen-forming and 400 are lichen-forming. C. Across the Arctic. Not all vessels associated with Antarctic tourism are members of IAATO, but IAATO members account for 95% of the tourist activity. [143] The Antarctic fur seal was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by sealers from the United States and the United Kingdom. The claims of Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France and Norway are all recognised by each other. Before the discovery of the Hiawatha impact crater, scientists generally assumed that most evidence of past impacts in Greenland and Antarctica would have been wiped away by unrelenting erosion by the overlying ice. If life is discovered in Lake Vostok, it would strengthen the argument for the possibility of life on Europa. Between 1,000 and 5,000 people from many countries reside at research stations scattered across the continent. Multicoloured snow algae and diatoms are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer. [1], The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 "AQ" is assigned to the entire continent regardless of jurisdiction. [49] Ousland got aid from a kite on parts of the distance. This has led to speculation that, if life ever occurred on Mars, it might have looked similar to Antarctic fungi such as Cryomyces antarcticus, and Cryomyces minteri. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has been credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. [209], Coordinates: 90°S 0°E / 90°S 0°E / -90; 0, This article is about the continent. The introduction of alien plants or animals can bring a criminal penalty, as can the extraction of any indigenous species. What does it mean for Antarctica? [6] Most of Antarctica is a polar desert, with annual precipitation of 200 mm (7.9 in) along the coast and far less inland; yet 80% of the world freshwater reserves are stored there, enough to raise global sea levels by about 60 metres (200 ft) if all of it were to melt. [131] Models suggest that ozone depletion and the enhanced polar vortex effect also account for the period of increased sea ice just offshore of the continent. (Antarctic ice cliffs may not contribute to ice-sheet instability as much as predicted, National Science Foundation). At 14,200,000 square kilometres (5,500,000 square miles), it is the fifth-largest continent and nearly twice the size of Australia. [58], Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft), is located in the Ellsworth Mountains. See more. Discovery and claim of French sovereignty over Adélie Land by Jules Dumont d'Urville, in 1840. Princeton's WordNet (0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Antarctic, Antarctic Zone, South Frigid Zone (adj) the region around the south pole: Antarctica and surrounding waters south-polar, Antarctic (adj) at or near the south pole Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent. The primary economic activity is the capture and offshore trading of fish. An interdisciplinary team of researchers using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica has measured how certain high-energy neutrinos are absorbed by the Earth, as opposed to passing through matter as most neutrinos do. Those features can also be observed in algae and cyanobacteria, suggesting that these are adaptations to the conditions prevailing in Antarctica. The prefabricated station, which is part of the International Polar Year, was shipped to the South Pole from Belgium by the end of 2008 to monitor the health of the polar regions. km). [57], East Antarctica lies on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains and comprises Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac. The Antarctican dollar, a souvenir item sold in the United States and Canada, is not legal tender. Meaning of Antarctic. During clear days in summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at the South Pole than at the equator because of the 24 hours of sunlight each day at the Pole. Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. [53], About 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, a sheet of ice averaging at least 1.6 km (1.0 mi) thick. Antarctica synonyms, Antarctica pronunciation, Antarctica translation, English dictionary definition of Antarctica. [18] In February 1775, during his second voyage, Captain Cook called the existence of such a polar continent "probable" and in another copy of his journal he wrote: "[I] firmly believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen a part of it".[19]. What does the name Antarctica mean, a brief answer will not work. Another well-known volcano is found on Deception Island, which is famous for a giant eruption in 1970. Compared with meteorites collected in more temperate regions on Earth, the Antarctic meteorites are well-preserved. This effect is partially offset by additional snow falling back onto the continent. A sun dog, a frequent atmospheric optical phenomenon, is a bright "spot" beside the true sun. Douglas Mawson, who assumed the leadership of the Magnetic Pole party on their perilous return, went on to lead several expeditions until retiring in 1931. Among these are pieces blasted off the Moon, and probably Mars, by impacts. [201], Researchers include biologists, geologists, oceanographers, physicists, astronomers, glaciologists, and meteorologists. Information about Antarctic in the AudioEnglish.org dictionary, synonyms and antonyms. Find out below. [1] Despite these new acts, unregulated and illegal fishing, particularly of Patagonian toothfish (marketed as Chilean Sea Bass in the U.S.), remains a serious problem. [89], A study from 2014 estimated that during the Pleistocene, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) thinned by at least 500 m (1,600 ft), and that thinning since the Last Glacial Maximum for the EAIS area is less than 50 m (160 ft) and probably started after c. 14 ka. Minor eruptions are frequent, and lava flow has been observed in recent years.
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