Exploring Antarctica

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Exploring Antarctica

Map of AntarcticaAntarctica is the fifth largest of the seven

continents. It is situated over the South Pole almost entirely south

of latitude 66°30’ south (the Antarctic Circle). It is a very rough

circular shape with the long arm of the Antarctic Peninsula stretching

towards South America. There are two large indentations, the Ross and

Weddell seas and their ice shelves.

The nearest other land masses are South America 600 mls / 1000 km away

across the roughest stretch of water in the world - the Drake passage,

Australia is 1550 mls / 2500 km away, and South Africa 2500 mls / 4000

km away.

The total surface area is about 14.2 million sq km (about 5.5 million

sq mls) in summer, approximately twice the size of Australia, half as

big again as the USA and fifty times the size of the UK.

In the winter Antarctica doubles in size due to the sea ice that forms

around the coasts. The true boundary of Antarctica is not the

coastline of the continent itself or the outlying islands, but the

Antarctic Convergence.

2/ Why is Antarctica considered to be a desert?

A Desert is defined as a region that has less than 254 mm (10 in) of

annual rainfall or precipitation. Antarctica can be classified as a

desert by this definition. In the interior of the continent the

average annual precipitation (in *equivalent of water) is only about

50 mm (about 2 in), less than the Sahara. Along the coast, this

increases, but is still only about 200 mm (8 in) in *equivalent of

water. Heavy snowfalls occur when cyclonic storms pick up moisture

from the surrounding seas and then deposit this moisture as snow along

the coasts.
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...the ice finally warms up sufficiently to melt. These

animals live largely in the Antarctic Peninsula.

The oceans surrounding the continent on the other hand are teeming

with great quantities of life. Large numbers of whales feed on the

rich marine life, especially krill. Six species of seals and 12

species of birds live and breed in the Antarctic. Crabeater seals are

the second most numerous large mammal on the planet after humans and

the population of krill has bee estimated as outweighing the human

population.

The most famous inhabitant of Antarctica has to be the penguin. A

flightless bird, but excellent swimmer, penguins live on pack ice and

in the oceans around Antarctica. They breed on the land or ice

surfaces along the coast and on islands. Best known and most typical

are the Adélie and emperor penguins.

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