The history of the exploration of Antarctica briefly. Geographical position

The discovery of Antarctica dates back to 1820.

However, the fact that there is a mainland at the South Pole was guessed before. The ancient Greeks were the first to express the idea of Antarctica. They knew about the Arctic - Arktos is an icy region in the Northern Hemisphere. And they decided that in order to balance the world, there should be a similar cold area in the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite area "Ant - Arktos" - opposite the Arctic.

Assumptions about Antarctica arose among the participants of the Portuguese expedition of 1501-1502., in which the Florentine traveler Amerigo Vespucci took part (his name, thanks to a bizarre coincidence, was later immortalized in the name of the huge continents). But the expedition could not advance further than the island of South Georgia, which lies quite far from the Antarctic continent. “The cold was so strong that none of our flotilla could bear it,” Vespucci testified.

James Cook penetrated the Antarctic waters furthest, debunking the myth of the giant Unknown Southern Land. But even he was forced to confine himself to a mere assumption: “I will not deny that there may be a continent or a significant land near the pole. On the contrary, I am convinced that such a land exists, and it is possible that we have seen part of it. Great cold, a huge number of ice islands and floating ice - all this proves that the land in the south must be ... ". He even wrote a special treatise "Arguments for the existence of land near the South Pole."

Naval Cadet Corps. From early childhood, he dreamed of the open spaces of the sea. “I was born in the middle of the sea,” he wrote, “as a fish cannot live without water, so I cannot I can live without the sea." In 1803-1806. Bellingshausen took part in the first Russian round-the-world voyage on the ship "Nadezhda" under the leadership of Ivan Kruzenshtern.

Was ten years younger Lazarev who made three round-the-world trips in his life. In 1827 he took part in the naval battle of Navarino against the Turks; later, for almost 20 years, he commanded the Black Sea Fleet. Among the students of Lazarev were outstanding Russian naval commanders Vladimir Kornilov, Pavel Nakhimov, Vladimir Istomin.

Fate brought Bellingshausen and Lazarev together in 1819. The Naval Ministry planned an expedition to the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Two well-equipped ships were to make a difficult journey. One of them, the Vostok sloop, was commanded by Bellingshausen, the other, bearing the name Mirny, was commanded by Lazarev. Many decades later, the first Soviet Antarctic stations would be named after these ships.

July 16, 1819 the expedition set sail. Its goal was formulated briefly: discoveries "in the possible vicinity of the Antarctic Pole." Mariners were ordered to explore South Georgia and Sandwich Land (now the South Sandwich Islands, once discovered by Cook) and "continue their explorations to the remotest latitude that can be reached", using "every diligence and the greatest effort to reach as close to the pole as possible, looking for unknown earth." The instruction was written in a "high calm", but no one knew how it could be implemented in practice. However, luck accompanied the "East" and "Mirny". The island of South Georgia has been described in detail; it was established that Sandwich Land is not one island, but an entire archipelago, and Bellingshausen called the largest island of the archipelago Cook Island. The first prescriptions of the instruction were fulfilled.

Already one could see endless expanses of ice on the horizon; along their edge, the ships continued their journey from west to east. On January 27, 1820, they crossed the Antarctic Circle and the next day came close to the ice barrier of the Antarctic continent. Only more than 100 years later, Norwegian explorers of Antarctica visited these places again: they called them the Princess Martha Coast. On January 28, Bellingshausen wrote in his diary: “Continuing our journey south, at noon at latitude 69 ° 21 "28", longitude 2 ° 14 "50" we met ice, which seemed to us through the falling snow in the form of white clouds. After going another two miles to the southeast, the expedition found itself in "continuous ice"; all around stretched "an ice field dotted with mounds."

Lazarev's ship was in conditions of much better visibility. The captain observed "seasoned (i.e., very powerful, solid) ice of extraordinary height", and "it extended as far as vision could only reach." This ice was part of the Antarctic ice sheet. And January 28, 1820 went down in history as the date of the discovery of the Antarctic continent. Two more times (February 2 and 17) Vostok and Mirny came close to the coast of Antarctica.

The instruction ordered "to search for unknown lands", but even the most determined of its compilers could not foresee such an amazing implementation.

On January 22, 1821, an unknown island appeared to the eyes of travelers. Bellingshausen called it the island of Peter I - "the high name of the culprit of the existence of a navy in the Russian Empire." January 28 - exactly a year has passed since the historic event - in cloudless, sunny weather, the crews of the ships observed a mountainous coast that stretched south beyond the limits of visibility.
For the first time, Alexander I Land appeared on geographical maps. Now there is no doubt left: Antarctica is not just a giant ice massif, not a “continent of ice”, as Bellingshausen called it in his report, but a real “earthly” continent.

However, he himself never spoke about the discovery of the mainland. And the point here is not a sense of false modesty: he understood that it was possible to draw final conclusions only by “stepping over the side of the ship”, having carried out research on the shore. Neither the size nor the outlines of the continent F. Bellingshausen could not form even a rough idea. This took many decades.

Completing their "Odyssey", the expedition examined in detail the South Shetland Islands, about which it was previously known only that the Englishman W. Smith observed them in 1818. The islands were described and mapped. Many companions of Bellingshausen participated in the Patriotic War of 1812. Therefore, in memory of her battles, individual islands received the corresponding names: Borodino, Maloyaroslavets, Smolensk, Berezina, Leipzig, Waterloo. However, later they were renamed by English sailors, which seems unfair. By the way, on Waterloo (its modern name is King George) in 1968, the northernmost Soviet scientific station in Antarctica, Bellingshausen, was founded.

The voyage of Russian ships lasted 751 days, and its length was almost 100 thousand km (the same amount will be obtained if two and a quarter times go around the Earth along the equator). 29 new islands have been mapped. Thus began the chronicle of the study and development of Antarctica, in which the names of researchers from many countries are inscribed.

Antarctica was discovered in 1820, but the idea of exploring the "southern land" appeared among navigators as early as the 16th century. Antarctica is still the most mysterious continent of the Earth, and the development and exploration of these lands does not stop even for a minute.

The history of the discovery of Antarctica

Assumptions that somewhere in the south there is a land completely covered with ice were expressed by ancient Greek scientists. Aristotle, for example, believed that there was a mainland connected to Africa that balances the northern continents.

The first attempts in search of Antarctica belong to the Portuguese expedition, which included the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci. In 1501-1502, the ships of the expedition approached the island of South Georgia, but could not move further because of the unbearable cold.

Rice. 1. Amerigo Vespucci.

During his round-the-world trip in 1772-1775. English navigator James Cook penetrated the Antarctic waters furthest. He reported that he had almost completely explored the southern hemisphere, but did not find a mainland there. And if such a land exists, it is very difficult to reach it. Cook's authority was so great that over the next 40 years there were no sea expeditions towards Antarctica.

The exploration of Antarctica resumed in 1819, when the Russian Tsar Alexander I sent an expedition to its shores. It was headed by an experienced navigator with German roots Thaddeus Bellingshausen, and Mikhail Lazarev became his deputy. On the ships "Vostok" and "Mirny" they set off to conquer unknown lands.

Antarctica explorers and their discoveries

After the discovery of Antarctica by Bellingshausen and Lazarev, interest in this continent increased with renewed vigor.

Despite the fact that Russian explorers are the discoverers of the mainland, Bellingshausen and Lazarev did not land on the mainland. The crew of the American ship Cecilia was the first to do this a year after the great discovery.

Between 1838 and 1842 as many as three expeditions were able to land in Antarctica and conduct great scientific research and make new discoveries. The expedition under the command of the Frenchman J. Dumont-Durville discovered Clari Land, Joinville Land, Louis Philippe Land. The American expedition under the command of C. Wilks discovered the Earth, which was named after its discoverer. And the English expedition under the command of J. Ross discovered Victoria Land.

in 1911, Raoul Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole, and a month later, as a result of a hiking trip, R. Scott's team got there. On the way back, Scott and his comrades died.

The first flight over the South Pole was made by R. Baird in 1928.

Rice. 3. Table of exploration of Antarctica.

On December 1, 1959, 12 countries, including the USSR, signed an agreement on Antarctica, according to which only research for peaceful purposes is possible on its territory. Report Evaluation

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Antarctica is a continent also known as the South Pole. In many ways, Antarctica is the most unique of the 7 continents. Let's find out all the secrets of Antarctica

Size

Antarctica is geographically unique in that it has no fixed boundaries or fixed dimensions. Although it is the fifth largest continent overall, its exact size in square miles varies by season. The change can be quite dramatic. During the summer, the continent is about half the size of the United States. However, in winter, when the usable area expands due to snow and ice, the continent can double in size.

white continent

Antarctica has an abundance of snow and ice. 98% of the continent is covered in ice, and about 70% of the world's fresh water is frozen in Antarctica. No other continent is colder, drier or windier than Antarctica, which greatly expands the possibility of explaining another unique feature, low population.

No citizens

The environment of Antarctica is so hostile that it has no permanent residents. Since no one lives there permanently, there are no countries or governments in Antarctica. This also means that there is no Antarctic money in dollars or coins. However, some people live and work in Antarctica temporarily. These are mostly summer visitors who tend to be almost exclusively scientists doing various forms of research. There are more than 60 research stations in Antarctica, and the total number of personnel of these institutions can sometimes reach four or five thousand people. A special international treaty allows anyone to use Antarctica for any peaceful purpose.

Research projects

The most common type of research done by visitors to Antarctica has to do with the weather. There is a lot of unique information about the weather in Antarctica, in particular its extreme cold. The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica is just 7 degrees Fahrenheit, but the coldest ever recorded is -128 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, a steel rod, strongly thrown to the ground, will collapse.

Antarctica is also considered the best place in the world to collect meteorites that fall to Earth from space. Meteorites are easier to find in Antarctica because they stand out against the snow, and they are not easily contaminated by terrestrial plants and bacteria, which often destroy meteorites for scientific study when they fall on other continents. The most common occupations for visitors to Antarctica are meteorologists, glaciologists, astronomers, physicists, oceanographers, geologists and biologists.

Life

While there are no permanent residents on the mainland, it is home to an amazing variety of Antarctic wildlife. Penguins and other birds such as the albatross can be found in Antarctica, as well as six types of seals and nine varieties of whales. Almost all of the wildlife in Antarctica is close to the coast, as strong winds and extreme cold make the interior of the continent too inhospitable. There are over a thousand species of fungal and lichen plants, but only two types of flowering plants on the entire continent. There are also 700 species of plankton.

If it weren't so cold and covered in ice, Antarctica would be a desert much like the Sahara Desert in northern Africa because it has little annual rainfall. However, what little precipitation falls as snow rarely melts, thus creating deep and ancient snowdrifts. Make no mistake about it, present-day Antarctica is technically the largest desert in the world.

With its extreme cold, it is unlikely that Antarctica will ever be densely populated or of much human interest outside of scientific research. However, the White Continent of Antarctica remains interesting as a beautiful, large and in many ways unique place that is not quite like any other of the 7 continents.

Important facts about Antarctica

This continent gets its name from a Greek word meaning "opposite north", which is very literal given its location right across the world from the North Pole (Arctic). The existence of Antarctica was only speculated by scientists until 1820, when it was discovered while exploring the area. The South Pole is located on the continent of Antarctica and was discovered in 1911.

Geography of Antarctica

Antarctica is covered with ice sheets. In the event that the climate were to warm up to the point where the ice sheets melted, this would raise the level of the oceans by 200 feet (60 m) around the world.

Antarctica has the highest average elevation of any continent on Earth.

The continent is surrounded on all sides by the Southern Ocean.

90% of all ice on Earth is in Antarctica and 70% of all fresh water. This amounts to about 30 million cubic kilometers (6,810,622,337,000,000,000 gallons) of ice.

Less than 5% of Antarctica is not covered by ice sheets. Much of the continent is covered in ice, which is more than 1 mile (1.6 km) deep.

Antarctica is a very large land area. It is larger than the European continent and twice the size of Australia.

The white background of the ice and snow of Antarctica makes it much easier to find meteorites. Also, there are very few plants to hide them.

During the winter, the continent of Antarctica nearly doubles in size as sea ice begins to form around coastlines. This ice forms and then melts each year as the seasons change in Antarctica.

Antarctica is believed to be responsible for one of the largest icebergs on record. In 2000, a giant piece of ice the size of Delaware (United States) interrupted the Ross Ice Shelf. It has an area of over 4000 sq. miles (11,000 sq km).

Antarctic Climate Facts

Even though Antarctica contains 70% of the planet's fresh water in the form of ice, it is still considered a desert region (the arctic desert is more specific) because it receives less than 6.5 inches or (166 mm) of precipitation annually.

The seasons in Antarctica are the opposite of most places on Earth. Summer falls between October and February, while winter falls from March to September.

This continent is the driest, highest, windiest and coldest of all. Antarctica has winds that will reach over 180 miles per hour (300 km per hour) on a consistent basis.

There are areas of Antarctica that are so comparable to areas on Mars that NASA used those areas to test spaceflight equipment.

The average temperature from March to September (winter) is -60 °C (-76 °F). The average temperature from October to February (summer) is -31 °C (-23 °F). The record low temperature in Antarctica is -89.6°C (-129°F).

The biggest dangers to people in Antarctica, apart from cold temperatures, are not what you think. Fire is extremely dangerous in Antarctica due to the very dry conditions. Almost impossible to stop the fire.

The journey that a snowflake before becoming an Iceberg is over 100,000 years.

Antarctica has not always been a cold, windy, desert. If you travel back 50 million years you will find green forests, more diverse land animals and many more birds. Fossils have been found in Antarctica to prove that this continent was once a very lush animal and plant life.

Facts about Antarctic casualties

The cold, windy and harsh climate of Antarctica keeps wildlife to a minimum. However, there are a limited number of insects and birds that call the continent home.

Antarctica is the only continent on earth that does not have native ant species.

Several marine animals live in Antarctica such as seabirds, penguins, seals, squid and whales. Most of the animals that survive in Antarctica share a common characteristic. They have thick layers of live fat (isolated fat) to keep them warm. Some species have several centimeters to survive.

Land wildlife is very rare in Antarctica. The largest land creature is actually an insect. The wingless midge is only half an inch (1.5 cm).

Only one warm-blooded animal remains year-round in Antarctica. An emperor penguin sticks to the most unforgivable winter on Earth to take care of his babies without food!

The neighboring oceans of Antarctica are home to the coldest adapted animals on Earth. There are several species of fish that inhabit the waters near Antarctica that thrive in 0°C water.

Facts about the location of Antarctica

The continent of Antarctica is the southernmost continent in the world. This, of course, means that you can also find the South Pole (the southernmost point on the planet).

The continent is the largest wilderness on the planet.

The largest hole in the ozone layer falls over Antarctica, which means that more radiation reaches this continent than any other.

You won't find any Eskimos or polar bears in Antarctica, which are on the other side of the world in the Arctic.

The area of Antarctica is over 5 million square miles (13 million sq km).

The American John Davis is believed to have first set foot on the continent in 1821.

Antarctica is mainly visited for scientific research. The only commercially viable industry found on the continent is fishing. There are also 50,000 tourists who make their way to the continent every year.

The countries of Argentina, Australia, Chile, the United Kingdom, Norway, France and New Zealand have submitted claims to the Antarctic continent. Not surprisingly, many countries do not recognize this. The Antarctic Treaty was created in light of this fact, which does not grant any country-to-continent claim, so it can continue to be used for science by many countries around the world.

The unique dry climate and slow ice in Antarctica allow scientists to carve out chunks of ice called "cores". They are removed like a plug of ice, which is essentially a time capsule allowing scientists to look at climate, geology, pollution and more thousands of years ago.

An annual sporting event called the Antarctic Ice Marathon is held in Antarctica. This is a 62-mile (100 km) treadmill along the ice near the South Pole.

Who discovered Antarctica

In 1772, James Cook of England became the first known person to cross the Antarctic Circle, which is at a latitude of 66.5°S.

In January 1820, two British sailors, William Smith and James Bransfield, sighted the Antarctic Peninsula, and in November of that year, an American, Nathaniel Palmer, also saw the continent. John Davis, another American, was the first to land there on February 7, 1821. This early research was the result of seal hunting ships.

In the period 1830-32. British navigator John Biscoe also visited the continent. In the 1830s and 1840s, knowledge of Antarctica was increased by a Russian expedition led by T. T. Bellingshausen; the American Expedition of Six Ships of 1840 under the command of Charles Wilkes; the French expedition of 1840 led by Jules S. S. Dumont D'Urville; and a British expedition led by Sir James Ross in 1841-43.

Antarctica was neglected until whalers showed interest in the region. A British group led by Norwegian naturalist Karsten E. Borchgrevink established the first wintering base on the Continent in 1899.

Between 1907 and 1909, Sir Ernest Shackleton of Great Britain led an expedition that discovered the South Magnetic Pole, climbed Mount Erebus, one of the highest volcanoes in the world, and was within 100 miles of the South Pole. The pole was first received on December 14, 1911 by Roald Amundzen from Norway, and Robert F. Scott from Great Britain arrived a month later on January 18, 1912. During this period, expeditions from nine countries visited Antarctica.

In the 1920s, aircraft began to be used for reconnaissance. Sir Hubert Wilkins of Great Britain was the first to fly over the continent, in 1928, and on November 29, 1929, Americans Richard E. Byrd and Bernt Balchen flew over the pole. Lincoln Ellsworth, another American, made the first flight across the continent in 1936, and Sir Vivian Fuchs of Great Britain made the first full land crossing in 1957-58.

The discovery of Antarctica and the scientific exploration of the mainland in the 1930s led to international rivalry with a number of countries claiming parts of the continent. Some of the claims overlap. The United States made no claims and did not recognize the interests of other countries. Large permanent scientific stations were set up and valuable scientific data collected.

In conclusion about Antarctica

The South Orkneys have or had British and Argentine stations; the Weddell Sea has UK, US and Argentine stations; on Palmer or in the Antarctic Peninsula, in South America, there are stations from Argentina, Chile and Great Britain; Marie Bird Land has United States stations; the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea, in the Pacific Ocean, host stations from the United States and New Zealand; Wilkes Land, Australia has stations from France, Australia and the United States; The American mountain range, the Indian Ocean, has stations from Australia, China and Russia; Queen Maud Land, From the Atlantic, has stations in South Africa, Germany, Japan, India and Russia.

At the South Pole is the Amundsen-Scott station in the United States. In 1959, 12 countries participating in the International Geophysical Year from July 1957 to December 1958 signed the Antarctic Treaty. It provides for freedom of movement and scientific cooperation and forbids military operations and nuclear explosions in the area.

After that, the study of the coast of the continent and its interior began. Numerous studies were done by English expeditions led by Ernest Shackleton (he wrote the book The Most Terrible Campaign about them).

In 1911-1912, a real race to conquer the South Pole unfolded between the expeditions of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott. Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole, a month after him, the party of Robert Scott arrived at the coveted point and died on the way back.

There are about 45 year-round scientific stations in Antarctica. Currently, Russia has five operating stations and one field base in Antarctica: Mirny, Vostok, Novolazarevskaya, Progress, Bellingshausen, Druzhnaya-4 (base).

Three stations are in a mothballed state: Molodyozhnaya, Russkaya, Leningradskaya.

The rest no longer exist: Pionerskaya, Komsomolskaya, Sovietskaya, Vostok-1, Lazarev, the Pole of Inaccessibility.

From 1957 to 1959, the International Geophysical Year was held, 65 countries agreed to send their expeditions to Antarctica, build scientific stations and conduct various studies. More than 60 research stations have been built in Antarctica. Scientists from many countries of the world work there. In 1959, an international treaty was signed on Antarctica, according to which it is forbidden to build industrial and military facilities there. The entire continent is provided to scientists for research, which is why Antarctica is called the continent of scientists.

The first Soviet expedition to Antarctica was led by Hero of the Soviet Union M.M. Somov. In early January 1956, the flagship of the expedition, the diesel-electric ship Ob, under the command of Captain I.A. Mana approached Helen Glacier in dense fog and passed through a narrow passage between icebergs east of the glacier mouth into Depot Bay in the Davis Sea.

The search for a site for the construction of a scientific station began. A suitable site was found in the area of Haswell Island.

In mid-February 1956, the grand opening of the first Soviet observatory on the coast of Antarctica took place. The observatory was named "Mirny" - in honor of one of the ships of the First Russian Antarctic expedition of Belingshausen - Lazarev. From the first days of the existence of the Soviet base, scientific research began in all the planned areas. The coast where the expedition settled was called the Shore of Truth.

Scientists suggest that Antarctica was once part of a giant continent called Gondwana.

A few months later, the expedition undertook a sledge-caterpillar traverse to the depths of the “white spot” of East Antarctica and organized the Pionerskaya inland station 370 km from the coast, at an altitude of 2700 m above sea level. On this slope of the glacial dome, even in the best weather, a smoky wind blows, sweeping the snow.

The second Soviet Antarctic expedition led by A.F. Treshnikova moved even further inland. The researchers came to the South geomagnetic pole and at a distance of 1400 km from the coast, at an altitude of 3500 m above sea level, built a permanent research station "Vostok". Everything necessary for the life and work of polar explorers is delivered from their homeland by several ships, in addition, winterers have tractors, tractors, airplanes, and helicopters.

The vegetation here is lichens, mosses and blue-green algae. There are no land mammals, winged insects and freshwater fish in Antarctica.

More than 100 thousand penguins, many petrels, skuas nest near Mirny, seals and sea leopards live in the waters.

During the work of the Fourth Soviet Antarctic Expedition, the new Lazareva station was also operating on the coast of the Queen Maud Land, but later it was rewritten 80 km inland and named Novolazarevskaya. The members of this expedition made a sledge-caterpillar traverse from Vostok station to the Geographical South Pole.

In October 1958, Soviet pilots on an IL-12 aircraft made a transcontinental flight from Mirny, across the South Pole, to the American McMurdo base located off Ross Island. It was the first Soviet aircraft over the South Pole.

At the end of 1959, during the Fourth Soviet Antarctic Expedition, researchers made an outstanding trip on all-terrain vehicles. This trip took place in the most difficult sector of Antarctica along the route Mirny-Komsomolskaya-East-South Pole. On December 26, 1959, a Soviet train from all-terrain vehicles arrived at the Amundsen-Scott station, where the Soviet polar explorers were warmly welcomed by the Americans. The participants of the campaign made a traditional round-the-world trip around the earth's axis, which took only a few minutes. During this trip, our scientists measured the thickness of the ice sheet using the seismoacoustic method. It turned out that under the station "Vostok" the thickness of the glacier is 3700, and the South Pole - 2810 m, from the station "Pionerskaya" to the South Pole extends a vast subglacial plain lying at sea level. It was named the Schmidt plain - in honor of the famous Soviet polar explorer - Otto Yulievich Schmidt. The results of research by scientists from different countries of the world were combined into one common system. Based on them, maps of the under-ice relief and the thickness of the ice sheet of Antarctica were compiled.

Now reaching the South Pole is a relatively simple matter. American researchers are always here, dozens of planes fly here every year, correspondents, congressmen and even tourists arrive here.

Soviet expeditions go to Antarctica every year. New stations were built - "Molodezhnaya", "Bellingshausen" in West Antarctica, "Leningradskaya" on Victoria Land, not far from the Ross Sea.

The richest scientific materials are collected. So, for example, seismic observations made it possible to register earthquakes on the Antarctic continent, albeit very weak ones.

Antarctica (the opposite of the Arctic) is a continent located in the very south of the Earth, the center of Antarctica approximately coincides with the geographic south pole. Antarctica is washed by the waters of the Southern Ocean (in Russia this ocean is often considered as the southern parts of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans). The area of the continent is 12.4 million km² (another 1.6 million km² are ice shelves). Antarctica was discovered on January 16 (January 28), 1820 by a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, who approached it at the point 69°21′ S. sh. 2°14′ W (G) (area of the modern Bellingshausen Ice Shelf). The first to enter the continental part on January 24, 1895 were the captain of the Norwegian ship "Antarctic" Christensen and the teacher of natural sciences Karlsten Borchgrövink.

Antarctica is the coldest of all continents. In terms of territory, Antarctica occupies far from the last place among other parts of the world. Its area - about 1400 million km 2 - is almost twice the area of Australia and one and a half times the area of Europe. With its outlines, Antarctica slightly resembles the Arctic Ocean. Antarctica is very different from all other continents. A thick layer of ice covers almost the entire continent. Thanks to the colossal glaciation, Antarctica is the highest continent on earth, its average height exceeds 2000 m, over 1/4 of its surface is at an altitude of more than 3000 m. Antarctica is the only continent that does not have a single permanent river, and yet It is in the form of ice 62% of the fresh waters of the earth.

Fig.1. Antarctica (satellite image)

If the ice sheet of this continent began to melt, it could feed the rivers of our planet, with the water content that they have for more than 500 years, and the level of the World Ocean, from the water that entered it, would rise by more than 60 meters. The magnitude of glaciation can be judged, if only because this ice is enough to cover the entire globe with a layer about 50 meters thick.

If you remove the entire ice sheet from Antarctica, it will be similar to all other continents with complex terrain - mountain structures, plains and deep depressions. An important difference from other continents is the complete absence of state borders and permanent population. Antarctica does not belong to any state, no one lives there permanently. Antarctica is a continent of peace and cooperation. Within its limits, any military preparations are prohibited. None of the countries can declare it their land. Legally, this is enshrined in an international treaty, which was signed on December 1, 1959. and entered into force on June 23, 1961, Antarctica does not belong to any state. Only scientific activities are allowed.

The deployment of military installations, as well as the entry of warships and armed vessels south of the 60th degree of latitude, are prohibited.

In the 80s of the XX century, Antarctica was also declared a nuclear-free zone, which excluded the appearance of nuclear-powered ships in its waters, and nuclear power units on the mainland. Now the parties to the treaty are 28 states (with the right to vote) and dozens of observer countries. However, the existence of a treaty does not mean that the states that acceded to it have renounced their territorial claims to the continent and adjacent space. On the contrary, the territorial claims of some countries are formidable. For example, Norway claims a territory ten times larger than its own (including the island of Peter I, discovered by the Bellingshausen-Lazarev expedition). Great territories declared their Great Britain.

Australia considers almost half of Antarctica to be its own, into which, however, the “French” Adélie Land is wedged. Presented territorial claims and New Zealand. Great Britain, Chile and Argentina claim practically the same territory, including the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. The United States and Russia took a special position, declaring that they could, in principle, put forward their territorial claims in Antarctica, although so far they have not done so. At the same time, both states do not recognize the claims of other countries.

History of the study of the continent

The first existence in the cold south of the continent was suggested by James Cook. However, a very difficult ice situation did not allow him to reach the shores of the continent. This was done on January 16 (January 28), 1820, by a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. After that, the study of the coast of the continent and its interior began. Numerous studies were done by English expeditions led by Ernest Shackleton (he wrote the book The Most Terrible Campaign about them). In 1911-1912, a real race to conquer the South Pole unfolded between the expeditions of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott. Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole, a month after him, the party of Robert Scott arrived at the coveted point and died on the way back.

Fig.2. Ice of Antarctica

From the middle of the 20th century, the study of Antarctica began on an industrial basis. Numerous permanent bases are being created on the continent by various countries, conducting meteorological, glaciological and geological research all year round. There are about 45 year-round scientific stations in Antarctica. Currently, Russia has five operating stations and one field base in Antarctica: Mirny, Vostok, Novolazarevskaya, Progress, Bellingshausen, Druzhnaya-4 (base). Three stations are in a mothballed state: Molodyozhnaya, Russkaya, Leningradskaya. The rest no longer exist: Pionerskaya, Komsomolskaya, Sovietskaya, Vostok-1, Lazarev, the Pole of Inaccessibility.

The first Soviet expedition to Antarctica was led by Hero of the Soviet Union M. M. Somov. In early January 1956, the flagship of the expedition, the diesel-electric ship Ob, under the command of Captain I.A. Man, approached the Helen Glacier in thick fog and passed through a narrow passage between icebergs to the east of the mouth of the glacier into the Depot Bay of the Davis Sea. The search for a site for the construction of a scientific station began. A suitable site was found in the area of Haswell Island.

Scientists have proven that Antarctica used to be a green city. And under the ice are mountains, valleys, plains, channels of former rivers, bowls of former lakes. Millions of years ago there was no eternal winter on this earth. Here the forests murmured warmly and greenly, tall grasses swayed under the warm winds, animals gathered on the banks of rivers and lakes to drink, birds fluttered in the sky. Scientists suggest that Antarctica was once part of a giant continent called Gondwana. A few months later, the expedition undertook a sledge-caterpillar traverse into the depths of the “white spot” of East Antarctica and organized the Pionerskaya inland station 370 km from the coast, at an altitude of 2700 m above sea level. On this slope of the glacial dome, even in the best weather, a smoky wind blows, sweeping the snow.

Fig.3. Station "Vostok" (Russia)

The second Soviet Antarctic expedition led by A.F. Treshnikov advanced even further inland. The researchers came to the South geomagnetic pole and at a distance of 1400 km from the coast, at an altitude of 3500 m above sea level, built a permanent research station "Vostok". Everything necessary for the life and work of polar explorers is delivered from their homeland by several ships, in addition, winterers have tractors, tractors, airplanes, and helicopters.

Thanks to the AN-2 light aircraft and the MI-4 helicopter, which helped to quickly get to any points on the coast, geologists in a short time studied dozens of rocky mountains - nunataks protruding from the ice sheet, surveyed the Mirny rocks and the Bunger Hills oasis and its surroundings. Biologists have flown by plane over many offshore islands, producing descriptions of the flora and fauna of these areas. The vegetation here is lichens, mosses and blue-green algae. There are no land mammals, winged insects and freshwater fish in Antarctica. More than 100 thousand penguins, many petrels, skuas nest near Mirny, seals and sea leopards live in the waters.

The third Soviet Antarctic expedition worked during the International Geophysical Year. By this time, two more stations had been built - "Komsomolskaya" and in the area of relative inaccessibility - "Soviet". Round-the-clock observations of the atmosphere were organized at the stations. The Pole of Cold of our planet was discovered. It is located near the Vostok station. Here, the average monthly temperature of August is 71 C and the minimum temperature is recorded - 88.3 C. At such temperatures, the metal becomes brittle, diesel fuel turns into a pasty mass, kerosene does not flare up, even if a burning torch is lowered into it. During the work of the Fourth Soviet Antarctic Expedition, the new Lazareva station was also operating on the coast of Queen Maud Land, but later it was rewritten 80 km inland and named Novolazarevskaya. The members of this expedition made a sledge-caterpillar traverse from Vostok station to the Geographical South Pole. In October 1958, Soviet pilots on an IL-12 aircraft made a transcontinental flight from Mirny, across the South Pole, to the American McMurdo base located off Ross Island. It was the first Soviet aircraft over the South Pole.

Fig.4. Aerial view of Beardmore Glacier in 1956

International cooperation makes it possible to combine the work of scientists and contributes to a better study of the nature of Antarctica. At the American station "Amundsen" - "Scott", for example, Soviet scientists often visit and work, and at the Soviet station "Vostok", located at the South geomagnetic pole, American scientists spend the winter and work. Now reaching the South Pole is a relatively simple matter. American researchers are always here, dozens of planes fly here every year, correspondents, congressmen and even tourists arrive here.

Soviet expeditions go to Antarctica every year. New stations were built - Molodezhnaya, Bellingshausen in West Antarctica, Leningradskaya on Victoria Land, not far from the Ross Sea. The richest scientific materials are collected. So, for example, seismic observations made it possible to register earthquakes on the Antarctic continent, albeit very weak ones.

Geological structure

Geologists have established that the bowels of Antarctica contain significant minerals - iron ores, coal, traces of copper, nickel, lead, zinc, molybdenum ores have been found, rock crystal, mica, and graphite have been found.

The Transantarctic Mountains, crossing almost the entire continent, divide Antarctica into two parts - West Antarctica and East Antarctica - having a different origin and geological structure. In the east there is a high (the highest elevation of the ice surface is ~4100 m above sea level), an ice-covered plateau. The western part consists of a group of mountainous islands connected by ice. On the Pacific coast are the Antarctic Andes, whose height exceeds 4000 m; the highest point of the continent - 4892 m above sea level - the Vinson Massif of the Sentinel Range. In West Antarctica there is also the deepest depression of the continent - the Bentley depression, probably of rift origin. The depth of the Bentley depression, filled with ice, reaches 2555 m below sea level.

West Antarctica is a younger and more dissected region, formed over the past 500 million years by the addition of small continental microplate fragments to the Antarctic plate. The largest are the Ellsworth Mountains, the Antarctic Peninsula and Mary Bird Land. The collision of these microplates with the Antarctic plate led to the formation of the mountains of western Antarctica.

ice sheet

The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest ice sheet on the planet and is approximately 10 times larger than the nearest Greenland Ice Sheet. It contains ~30 million km³ of ice, that is, 90% of all land ice. The ice sheet is shaped like a dome with an increase in the steepness of the surface towards the coast, where it passes into ice ledges or ice shelves. The average thickness of the ice layer is 2500-2800 m, reaching a maximum value in some areas of East Antarctica - 4800 m. The accumulation of ice on the ice sheet leads, as in the case of other glaciers, to the flow of ice into the ablation (destruction) zone, which is the coast continent; ice breaks off in the form of icebergs. The annual volume of ablation is estimated at 2500 km³.

Fig.5. Ice sheet of Antarctica

A feature of Antarctica is a large area of ice shelves, low (blue) areas of West Antarctica), which is ~ 10% of the area that rises above sea level; these glaciers are the source of icebergs of record size, much larger than those of the fjord glaciers in Greenland; for example, in 2000, the largest iceberg B-15 known at the moment (2005) with an area of over 10,000 km² broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf. In summer (winter in the southern hemisphere), the area of the ice sheet of Antarctica increases by 3-4 million km² due to the growth of ice shelves, primarily around the Antarctic Peninsula and in the Ross Sea.

The modern ice sheet of Antarctica was formed several million years ago, which was apparently facilitated by the rupture of the bridge connecting South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, which, in turn, led to the formation of the Antarctic circumpolar current (Western Winds current) and the isolation of Antarctic waters from the World Ocean - these waters make up the so-called Southern Ocean.

East Antarctica is an ancient Precambrian continental platform (craton) similar to those of India, Brazil, Africa, and Australia. All these cratons were formed during the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent. The age of the rocks of the crystalline basement is 2.5-2.8 billion years, the most ancient rocks of Enderby Earth are more than 3 billion years old.

Fig.6. Lemaire Canal

The basement is covered by a younger sedimentary cover formed 350-190 million years ago, mainly of marine origin. The layers with an age of 320-280 million years contain glacial deposits, but younger ones contain fossil remains of plants and animals, including ichthyosaurs and dinosaurs, which indicates a strong difference between the climate of that time and the modern one. Findings of heat-loving reptiles and fern flora were made by the first explorers of Antarctica, and served as one of the strongest evidence for large-scale horizontal plate movements, confirming the concept of plate tectonics.

seismic activity. Volcanism

Antarctica is a tectonically calm continent with low seismic activity; manifestations of volcanism are concentrated in western Antarctica and are associated with the Antarctic Peninsula, which arose during the Andean period of mountain building. Some of the volcanoes, especially island ones, have erupted in the last 200 years. The most active volcano in Antarctica is Erebus. It is called "the volcano guarding the way to the South Pole".