|
||||||
|
|
|
|
Antarctica - the Great White Continentalso see: Antarctic cruise Antarctica is a continent surrounding the Earth's South Pole. It is not to be confused with the arctic, which is located near the Earth's North Pole.
The continent is contained within the Antarctic Circle. Typical for Antarctica are gigantic table-top icebergs. The continent is surrounded by a large pack-ice zone, in which one of the most remarkable ecosystems of the planet developed, based on the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. It is the food of whales, penguins, fish, seals and many birds. The climate of Antarctica is cold, high and dry. It is the coldest place on earth and is almost entirely covered by ice. Weather patterns rarely penetrate far into the continent, leaving the center cold and dry. There is little precipitation over the continent, but ice there can last for a long time. The lowest temperature ever recorded on earth was -89.4 °C (-129 °F) recorded in 1983 at Vostok Station, Antarctica. The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 14.6 C (58.3 F) in Hope Bay. Antarctica was discovered in late January 1820. It has no indigenous inhabitants, but there are seasonally staffed research stations. Approximately 29 nations, all signatory to the Antarctic Treaty, send personnel to perform seasonal (summer) and year-round research on the continent and in its surrounding oceans; the population of persons doing and supporting science on the continent and its nearby islands south of 60 degrees south latitude (the region covered by the Antarctic Treaty) varies from approximately 4,000 in summer to 1,000 in winter; in addition, approximately 1,000 personnel including ship's crew and scientists doing onboard research are present in the waters of the treaty region Check the weather at the South Pole!
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Antarctica" and from http://www.white-on.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
