Via: aljazeera. The South Pole is adversely affected by ultraviolet rays but the ice still continues to grow. Ever wondered, why? During winters, at sunset, the temperatures go as low as degree Celsius. The highest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole was Recently, scientists at University of Washington and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have explained that the water currents in the southern hemisphere bring old waters from below to the top.
The cold temperature freezes it and therefore, ice is never seen melting at the South Pole. There is a very amusing fish in the waters surrounding the Antarctic, which is completely void of red blood cells. It is called the ice fish and looks very ghostly. It lost its red blood cells over time but survived. The fish has colourless blood and white and soft gills fishes usually have brown or red gills full of blood supply. Researchers believe that due to the high level of oxygen in the water of Antarctic, gills and skin of fish turned super thin.
Via: fashioncouncil. Since Antarctica falls in the southern hemisphere, it experiences seasons opposite to that in the northern hemisphere. When it is winter in the north, during October to February, it is summer in Antarctica. When it is summer in the north from April to August, it is winter in Antarctica.
This is not only seen in Antarctica but also in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries which are on the other side of the equator. Since it is located at the extremity of the Earth, it experiences only two seasons — winter and summer. Via: klikindonews. Antarctica belongs to no nation, that means no one can colonize it, which rules out the chance of any permanent residency. The only people who live there are scientists and researchers, but not permanently.
Only 1, to 5, scientists and researchers live there every year. Around 36, people visit Antarctica every year. Tourism is only possible during the summers even though there are some very brave people who go there during the winters.
Antarctica has no commercial industries, gardens, amusement parks, or hotels. It is just a bare piece of land completely covered in snow. And if you are planning to go and stay in Antarctica forever, well that might not actually be a possibility for you. Via: polar-quest. Seven nations have claimed sovereignty over Antarctica but no one owns it just yet.
These territorial tensions will only increase the global pressure on Antarctica. They all meet once a year and take measures for the following year. However, all these countries are rich. For example, South Africa is the only African country that has signed the treaty. This is unfair for the poorer countries who might benefit from owning a part of Antarctica. Via: Wikimediacommons. The South Pole is the southernmost point on the Earth. It is the precise point of the southern intersection of the Earth's axis and the Earth's surface.
From the South Pole, all directions are north. Its latitude is 90 degrees south, and all lines of longitude meet there as well as at the North Pole , on the opposite end of the Earth.
The South Pole is located on Antarctica , one of the Earth's seven continent s. Although land at the South Pole is only about a hundred meters above sea level , the ice sheet above it is roughly 2, meters 9, feet thick. In fact, the warmest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole was a freezing The South Pole is close to the coldest place on Earth.
The coldest temperature recorded at the South Pole, That temperature was recorded at the Russian Vostok Research Station, about 1, kilometers miles away. Because the Earth rotates on a tilted axis as it revolves around the sun, sunlight is experienced in extremes at the poles.
In fact, the South Pole experiences only one sunrise at the September equinox and one sunset at the March equinox every year. From the South Pole, the sun is always above the horizon in the summer and below the horizon in the winter.
This means the region experiences up to 24 hours of sunlight in the summer and 24 hours of darkness in the winter. Due to plate tectonics , the exact location of the South Pole is constantly moving. Plate tectonics is the process of large slabs of Earth's crust moving slowly around the planet, bumping into and pulling apart from one another.
Over billions of years, Earth's continents have shifted together and rifted apart. Millions of years ago, land that today is the east coast of South America was at the South Pole. Today, the ice sheet above the South Pole drifts about 10 meters 33 feet every year. Between 50 and scientists and support staff live at the this research station at any given time. The station itself does not sit on the ground or ice sheet.
It is able to adjust its elevation, to prevent it from being buried in snow, which accumulate s at a rate of about 20 centimeters 8 inches every year, and does not melt. The dark sky, freezing temperatures, and gale -force winds prevent most supplies from being flown or trekked in.
All food, medical supplies, and other material must be secured before the long Antarctic winter. The station's energy is provided by three enormous generator s that run on jet fuel. Vegetables in the greenhouse are grown with hydroponics , in a nutrient solution instead of soil. Some of the earliest discoveries made at South Pole research stations helped support the theory of continental drift , the idea that continents rift apart and shift together.
Rock samples collected near the South Pole and throughout Antarctica match samples dated to the same time period collected at tropical latitudes. Geologist s conclude that the samples formed at the same time and the same place, and were torn apart over millions of years, as the Earth split into different continents.
The relatively undisturbed ice sheet maintains a pristine record of snowfalls, air quality, and weather patterns. Ice core s provide data for glaciologists, climatologists, and meteorologist s, as well as scientists tracking patterns in climate change. The South Pole has low temperatures and humidity and high elevation, making it an outstanding place to study astronomy and astrophysics.
The South Pole Telescope studies low-frequency radiation , such as microwaves and radio wave s. The South Pole Telescope is one of the instruments designed measure the cosmic microwave background CMB —faint, diffuse radiation left over from the Big Bang.
Astrophysicists also search for tiny particles called neutrinos at the South Pole. Neutrino s interact very, very weakly with all other matter. Neutrino detectors therefore must be very large to detect a measurable number of the particles. It is the largest neutrino detector in the world. The habitat is far too harsh for most organisms to survive.
In fact, the South Pole sits in the middle of the largest, coldest, driest, and windiest desert on Earth. More temperate parts of this desert called either East Antarctica or Maudlandia support native flora such as moss and lichen, and organisms such as mites and midges.
The South Pole itself has no native plant or animal life at all. Sometimes, however, seabirds such as skua s can be spotted if they are blown off-course.
Exploration The early 20th century's "Race to the Pole" stands as a symbol of the harrowing nature of polar exploration. Robert Falcon Scott 's expedition of Scott, along with fellow Antarctic explorers Ernest Shackleton and Edward Wilson, came within kilometers miles of the pole, but turned back due to weather and inadequate supplies.
A letter left for Scott showed that Amundsen and his men had beaten them by a month, by using dogs to pull their sledges. On their journey back from the Pole, Scott's team found that food "dumps" were short of supplies, particularly kerosene. Kerosene was very important: not just for cooking but for melting ice.
Once it ran out, they would have no water to drink. One man collapsed and died while walking. Oates knew his frostbitten feet could not carry him back to base, and that he might delay his companions and risk their lives.
He committed suicide by walking out of their tent into the cold. Scott and his remaining two companions died of starvation, thirst, and cold - trapped in the tent by bad weather until their supplies ran out.
Next spring, the three bodies in the tent were found by a team from the main part of the expedition - who had spent the winter in the expeditions's hut by the sea.
Scott's letters to his wife, written in the tent when he knew he was going to die, have just Jan been made public. Apart from Ernest Shackleton 's expedition to cross the Antarctic another heroic failure, but Shackleton saved all his men, after a very courageous sea crossing in an open boat, and a crossing of an unknown mountain range while starving and freezing , this was the end of the "heroic" age of exploration.
Today there is an American science base at the South Pole. The South Pole has a desert climate. It almost never gets any precipitation. Air humidity is near zero. However, high winds can cause the blowing of snowfall, and the accumulation of snow amounts to about 20 cm 7. More recent buildings are raised on stilts so that the snow does not build up against the sides. KidzSearch Safe Wikipedia for Kids. Jump to: navigation , search.
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