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29-689: Captain Arturo Prat Base (Spanish: Base Naval Antártica "Arturo Prat") is a Chilean Antarctic research station located at Iquique Cove , Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands , Antarctica . Opened February 6, 1947 by the First Chilean Antarctic Expedition , it is the oldest Chilean Antarctic station. Until March 1, 2006, it was a base of the Chilean Navy , on which date it

58-519: Is maritime polar ( Köppen : ET ), being on the coast of the peninsula with less severe averages than expected in Antarctica . Extreme temperatures can reach −29 °C or −20.2 °F in July, which is still quite bearable to humans protected due to considerable moderation of the sea, and a rare heat wave caused the temperature to reach 19 °C or 66.2 °F, a relatively high value. The climate

87-574: Is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees south of Earth 's equatorial plane . No land lies on the parallel—it crosses nothing but ocean. The closest land is a group of rocks north of Coronation Island (Melson Rocks or Governor Islands) of the South Orkney Islands , which are about 54 km south of the parallel, and Thule Island and Cook Island of the South Sandwich Islands , which both are about 57 km north of

116-799: Is a polar region around Earth 's South Pole , opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole . The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica , the Kerguelen Plateau , and other island territories located on the Antarctic Plate or south of the Antarctic Convergence . The Antarctic region includes the ice shelves , waters, and all the island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of

145-599: Is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny . The Australian James Kerguelen Robinson (1859–1914) was the first human born in the Antarctic, on board the sealing ship Offley in the Gulf of Morbihan (Royal Sound then), Kerguelen Island on 11 March 1859. The first human born and raised on an Antarctic island

174-546: Is credited to the Spaniard Gabriel de Castilla , who reported seeing distant southern snow-capped mountains in 1603. The first Antarctic land discovered was the island of South Georgia , visited by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Although such myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ("Southern Land") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent of Antarctica

203-428: Is low on the islands: studies have theorized that the harsh climate was a major contributor towards species richness, but multiple correlations have been found with area, temperature, remoteness of islands, and food chain stability. For example, herbivorous insects are poor in number due to low plant richness, and likewise, indigenous bird numbers are related to insects, which are a major food source. The Antarctic hosts

232-491: Is managed through an international commission headquartered in Hobart , Australia, by an efficient system of annual fishing quotas, licenses, and international inspectors on the fishing vessels, as well as satellite surveillance. The islands situated between 60°S latitude parallel to the south and the Antarctic Convergence to the north and their respective 200-nautical-mile (370 km) exclusive economic zones fall under

261-618: Is no permanent country in Antarctica . As defined by the Antarctic Treaty System , the Antarctic region is everything south of the 60°S latitude . The Treaty area covers Antarctica and the archipelagos of the Balleny Islands , Peter I Island , Scott Island , the South Orkney Islands , and the South Shetland Islands . However, this area does not include the Antarctic Convergence , a transition zone where

290-506: Is quite humid for its location and precipitation is fairly well distributed, so that even in the driest months it receives more precipitation than almost all of the Mediterranean zone . Antarctic The Antarctic ( / æ n ˈ t ɑːr t ɪ k / or / æ n ˈ t ɑːr k t ɪ k / , American English also / æ n t ˈ ɑːr t ɪ k / or / æ n t ˈ ɑːr k t ɪ k / ; commonly / æ ˈ n ɑːr t ɪ k / )

319-722: Is set to expire in 35 years. ) To protect the area, all Antarctic ships over 500 tonnes are subject to mandatory regulations under the Polar Code , adopted by the International Maritime Organization (in force since 1 January 2017). Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities occurs everywhere on Earth, and while Antarctica is less vulnerable to it than any other continent, climate change in Antarctica has been observed. Since 1959, there has been an average temperature increase of >0.05 °C/decade since 1957 across

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348-688: Is visible for 18 hours, 52 minutes during the December solstice and 5 hours, 52 minutes during the June solstice. On December 21, the sun is at 53.44 degrees up in the sky and 6.56 degrees on June 21. The sun's altitude is exactly 30 degrees at either equinox. The latitudes south of this parallel are often referred to as the Screaming 60s due to the prevailing high-speed, westerly winds which can generate large waves in excess of 15 m (50 ft) and peak wind speeds over 145 km/h (90 mph). The maximum altitude of

377-496: The Antarctic Convergence , a zone approximately 32 to 48 km (20 to 30 mi) wide and varying in latitude seasonally. The region covers some 20 percent of the Southern Hemisphere , of which 5.5 percent (14 million km ) is the surface area of the Antarctica continent itself. All of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude are administered under the Antarctic Treaty System . Biogeographically ,

406-496: The Antarctic realm is one of eight biogeographic realms on Earth's land surface. Climate change in Antarctica is particularly important because the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet has a high potential to add to the global sea level rise . Further, this melting also disrupts the flow of Southern Ocean overturning circulation , which would have significant effects on the local climate and marine ecosystem functioning.There

435-540: The Convergence and thus outside the Antarctic region. A variety of animals live in Antarctica for at least some of the year, including: Most of the Antarctica continent is permanently covered by ice and snow, leaving less than 1 percent of the land exposed. There are only two species of flowering plant, Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort , but a range of mosses , liverworts , lichens and macrofungi . Biodiversity among terrestrial flora and fauna

464-552: The Sun is > 15.00º in April and > 8.00º in May. The lowest latitude where white nights can be observed is approximately on this parallel. During the summer solstice, nighttime does not get beyond nautical twilight , a condition which lasts throughout the month of December. It is possible to view both astronomical dawn and dusk every day between February 17 and October 24. Starting at

493-562: The West Antarctic, the ocean has warmed by 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1955. The fresh, 1100-1500 billion tons (GT) per year of meltwater from the ice dilutes the saline Antarctic bottom water , weakening the lower cell of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation (SOOC). According to some research, a full collapse of the SOOC may occur a between 1.7 °C (3.1 °F) and 3 °C (5.4 °F) of global warming, although

522-523: The cold waters of the Southern Ocean collide with the warmer waters of the north, forming a natural border to the region. Because the Convergence changes seasonally, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources approximates the Convergence line by joining specified points along parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude . The implementation of the convention

551-668: The conference were presented at the Antarctic Treaty states' meeting in Uruguay in May 2010. Because Antarctica surrounds the South Pole , it is theoretically located in all time zones . For practical purposes, time zones are usually based on territorial claims or the time zone of a station's owner country or supply base. 90°00′S 00°00′W  /  90.000°S -0.000°E  / -90.000; -0.000 60th parallel south The 60th parallel south

580-496: The continent, although it had been uneven. West Antarctica warmed by over 0.1 °C/decade from the 1950s to the 2000s, and the exposed Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 3 °C (5.4 °F) since the mid-20th century. The colder, stabler East Antarctica had been experiencing cooling until the 2000s. Around Antarctica, the Southern Ocean has absorbed more oceanic heat than any other ocean, and has seen strong warming at depths below 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Around

609-752: The full effects are expected to occur over multiple centuries; these include less precipitation in the Southern Hemisphere but more in the Northern Hemisphere , an eventual decline of fisheries in the Southern Ocean and a potential collapse of certain marine ecosystems . While many Antarctic species remain undiscovered, there are documented increases in Antarctic flora , and large fauna such as penguins are already having difficulty retaining suitable habitat. On ice-free land, permafrost thaws release greenhouse gases and formerly frozen pollution. The first recorded sighting of Antarctica

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638-607: The most popular destinations being the Antarctic Peninsula area (especially the South Shetland Islands ) and South Georgia Island . In December 2009, the growth of tourism , with consequences for both the ecology and the safety of the travellers in its great and remote wilderness, was noted at a conference in New Zealand by experts from signatories to the Antarctic Treaty . The definitive results of

667-843: The national jurisdiction of the countries that possess them: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (United Kingdom), Bouvet Island (Norway), and Heard and McDonald Islands (Australia). Kerguelen Islands (France; also an EU Overseas territory) are situated in the Antarctic Convergence area, while the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego , Falkland Islands , Isla de los Estados , Hornos Island with Cape Horn , Diego Ramírez Islands , Campbell Island , Macquarie Island , Amsterdam and Saint Paul Islands, Crozet Islands , Prince Edward Islands , Gough Island , and Tristan da Cunha group remain north of

696-591: The parallel (with Cook Island slightly closer). The parallel marks the northern limit of the Southern Ocean (though some organisations and countries, notably Australia , have other definitions) and of the Antarctic Treaty System . It also marks the southern boundary of the South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone and the Latin American Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone . At this latitude the sun

725-467: The southernmost. In late 1977, Silvia Morella de Palma, who was then seven months pregnant, was airlifted to Esperanza Base , in order to complete her pregnancy in the base. The airlift was a part of the Argentine solutions to the sovereignty dispute over territory in Antarctica. Emilio was automatically granted Argentine citizenship by the government since his parents were both Argentine citizens, and he

754-766: The world's largest protected area comprising 1.07 million km , the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protection Area created in 2012. The latter exceeds the surface area of another vast protected territory, the Greenland National Park 's 972,000 km (375,000 sq mi). (While the Ross Sea Marine Protection Area established in 2016 is still larger at 1.55 million km , its protection

783-661: Was Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen born on 8 October 1913 in Grytviken , South Georgia. Emilio Marcos Palma (born 7 January 1978) is an Argentine man who was the first documented person born on the continent of Antarctica at the Esperanza Base . His father, Captain Jorge Palma, was head of the Argentine Army detachment at the base. While ten people have been born in Antarctica since, Palma's birthplace remains

812-449: Was born in the claimed Argentine Antarctica . Palma can be considered to be the first native Antarctican. The Antarctic region had no indigenous population when first discovered, and its present inhabitants comprise a few thousand transient scientific and other personnel working on tours of duty at the several dozen research stations maintained by various countries. However, the region is visited by more than 40,000 tourists annually,

841-458: Was handed over to the regional government of Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region . Until February 2004, it had been a permanent base. Afterwards, it had served as a summer base for ionospheric and meteorologic research. There have been plans to reopen the station for permanent occupation starting March 2008. The base is named for Captain Arturo Prat , a Chilean naval officer. The climate

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