The Antarctic or Antarctic continent is the fourth continent because of its size. Africa , Asia Y America they are older To calculate its size, we can take Australia as reference, since Antarctica has approximately twice the extension. However, it is a continent without countries . Join us to know these 50 Curiosities of Antarctica, the frozen continent.
Although it was the last continent discovered, the Greeks already assumed its existence because it had a conception of the world based on balance. Thus, Aristotle believed that the Earth, being a symmetric sphere, should have two points of equilibrium located on both sides of the equatorial line. At these points he called them "poles". The Greeks called the pole they thought was in the "Arctic" north and its opposite in the "Antarctic" south. What does it mean that is facing or opposed to the Arctic.
50 Curiosities of Antarctica
1. The peripheral islands of Antarctica were known since the eighteenth century, but the continent was not trodden by humans until 1821.
2. One of the curiosities of Antarctica is that many scientists consider that it has its own ocean: the Southern Ocean. It moves in an easterly direction and adds the southern ends of the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.
3. Antarctica is really a desert. In some areas of the continent it has not snowed or rained for 2 million years.
4. The ice sheet that covers the Antarctic continent is at least 40 million years old and is the largest mass of ice on the planet.
5. Other of the curiosities of Antarctica is that it houses 70% of our planet's fresh water.
6. It seems contradictory that the Antarctic is a desert and at the same time contains 70% of the fresh water of the Earth. Although only receives about 5 cm. of annual rainfall, this adds to the ice cap and never melts.
7. The ice in many places has a thickness of more than 4 km.
8. However, the mean of the thickness measurement of Antarctic ice is 1.6 km.
9. Less than 1% of Antarctica is free of ice permanently.
10. This ice-free zone is where most of its biodiversity is, but it is also where almost all human activity takes place, with the risk of contamination that this entails.
11. In 2000, the largest iceberg ever recorded was separated from Antarctica. It measured 11,000 km2, which means it was larger than Jamaica.
12. Another of the curiosities of Antarctica is the red waterfall or blood cataracts that can be seen in the Taylor Glacier. It is due to iron oxide that contains the water of the glacier itself.
13. The Antarctic continent hides many mysteries; recently an anomaly was discovered under the ice of the Antarctic similar to a structure and this fact has raised many speculations. If you want to know more about the subject, we invite you to read this post from Supercurioso: A mysterious structure in Antarctica. What is it?
14. It is not easy live in Antarctica since it has the "most violent" climate on Earth. Not only is it the driest, but it is also the windiest and the coldest of all the continents.
15. Cold catabolic winds blow over Antarctica (it is called catabatic to the wind that "falls within a stable atmosphere, whatever the cause, and which does it from a higher level"), with an intensity in occasions similar to that of a hurricane since they can reach 200km. per hour.
16. To get to this continent, you will not find regular flights or hotels and also during the winter there is no contact with the outside world if it is not by phone, fax or email.
17. In winter there is no light for almost two months (June-July) and in summer (December-January) there is light all day and fortunately the storms disappear almost completely.
18. Tourists, who usually travel from the city of Ushuaia which is one of the main ports from where the icebreakers leave for Antarctica or from the Falklands. They have to spend the night in the boats that have brought them because of this lack of hotel infrastructure.
19. The inhabitants of Antarctica they are estimated at around 135. These are those who live permanently, but as there are 65 scientific bases in 30 countries, in reality between 1,000 and 5,000 people reside on the continent throughout the year.
20. Chile has a city in Antarctica, "Villa las Estrellas". In it you can find hospital, post office, school and a hostel and also enjoy Internet connection, television and mobile coverage.
21. On January 7, 1978, he was born in Esperanza Base, which belongs to Argentina, Emilio Marcos Palma. He is the first person born on the Antarctic continent.
22. Emilio is the only person in human history who can be said to be the "first born on a continent".
23. In Antarctica there is the South Pole. If you travel to the "Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station" you will see one of the curiosities of Antarctica : there are two South Poles. One is the ceremonial, surrounded by the flags of the signatory countries of the Antarctic Treaty, and a few meters from it the true South Pole.
24. The vegetation that you will find in the Antarctic continent is the tundra: almost 100 species of mosses, 25 of hepatophytes, but only 3 vascular plants.
25. Approximately 300 million years ago, the vegetation in Antarctica It was similar to California's.
26. Among the animals that live in Antarctica you can find penguins, mites, nematodes, pinnipeds and the incredibly hardy tardigrades . Only one insect is native to the continent: the "Belgica antarctica" and is the only terrestrial animal of the continent.
27. Despite being native to the continent, Belgium antarctica is not the most abundant land animal, but it is the tiny "nematode worm".
28. The male Emperor Penguin is the only warm-blooded animal that remains in Antarctica during the winter. It stays incubating the egg that the female has put next to other "parents" trying to conserve the heat between all. They will spend around 9 weeks at sea and will return when the chicks are being born.
29. Since 1994, the Husky dogs that had accompanied many expeditions in the early twentieth century, have been prohibited in Antarctica .
30. Antarctica has the shared sovereignty by several countries and is governed by the Antarctic Treaty which has been signed today by 38 nations.
31. It prohibits, among other things, military activities, nuclear explosions, the disposal of nuclear waste and even mining.
32. Between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, the British Felicity Aston She became the first woman to cross the Antarctic skiing solo. He was 33 years old and it took 59 days.
33. The coldest place on earth is in Antarctica, on a ridge where temperatures have dropped to -93.2º C.
34. The highest temperature recorded in the Antarctic continent is 14.5 ° C.
35. Another of the curiosities of Antarctica is that you can not work on it if you do not extract the wisdom teeth and also the appendix. This is due to the fact that there are no quick evacuation methods to be able to be operated.
36. Antarctica, when it is located in the geographical South Pole, does not have a time zone. Any of the world's time zones can be used. It is normal to use the time zone of the nearest country or the bases, the country of origin of the scientists.
37. A mountain range hides beneath Antarctica. It is the size of the Alps and is known as the "Cordillera Gamburtsev".
38. For years the formation of the Gamburtsev Cordillera that has more than 800 km. It was a mystery since it is not close to the point of contact of the tectonic plates. Finally in 2009 it was discovered that it was much older than scientists supposed and that it was created more than a billion years ago when the super-continent Rodinia was formed.
39. Buried under the ice, at about 3,7 km., There is also a lake: the Vostok. It's the size of Lake Ontario.
40. The Vostok is not the only liquid lake under the ice of Antarctica, there are about 200 more scattered across the continent.
41. In addition to mountain ranges and lakes, in an expedition carried out between 2009 and 2010, it was discovered that this continent hides a canyon comparable to the Colorado Canyon in the USA.
42. The ones that are visible are the Transantarctic Mountains. It is one of the longest mountain ranges on Earth since it measures about 3,700 km. and divide Antarctica into eastern and western.
43. The highest point of the continent is the Vinson massif, which is located in the Ellsworth Mountains, at an altitude of 4,892 m.
44. Another of the curiosities of Antarctica It is Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on the planet.
45. Eighty-seven percent of glaciers in the Antarctic Peninsula are in decline, according to the Palmer Station website of the United States.
46. In Antarctica it is possible to see the phenomenon known as " diamond powder " The air is so cold that the water vapor condenses in the air forming tiny crystals that settle on the ground. When the sun rises, they shine in such a way that they look like little diamonds.
47. Many "meteor hunters" come to Antarctica because it is easy to find them because of the whiteness of the terrain and because in that territory they remain practically unchanged. The meteorites found in the frozen continent are very important since they formed at the beginning of the solar system.
48. In Antarctica there are no airports and only 28 runways and 37 heliports are operational. These facilities only allow flights in summer and daylight and despite this the
49. In Antarctica there are no shops except for a supermarket with basic provisions and a small shop with some souvenirs in Villa de Las Estrellas.
50. As the last of these curiosities of Antarctica , we will answer a question that you may have asked. What would happen if all the ice in Antarctica were undone? According to some estimates, the average global sea level would rise by about 5 m. approximately. Let's hope it does not happen!
Curiosities of Other Continents
If you liked knowing these curiosities of Antarctica , we are convinced that you will want to discover a little more about each of the other continents of our planet. Enjoy the most fascinating data from all continents and savor its most curious side!
- Curiosities of Asia
- Curiosities of Africa
- Curiosities of America
- Curiosities of Europe
- Curiosities of Oceania
Did you know these curiosities of Antarctica ? Did you know that there were liquid lakes under the ice of Antarctica or that the male emperor penguin is the only warm-blooded animal that remains in winter on the continent? If you have more information about Antarctica, share them with us! and so we can expand this list of curiosities.
Images: Heraldry , SnowSwan , Samuel Blanc , H Debussy-Jones