129-864: The Drang-Drung Glacier (also called Durung Drung Glacier ) is a mountain glacier near the Pensi La pass on the Kargil-Zanskar Road in the Kargil district of Ladakh in India . The Drang-Drung Glacier is likely to be the largest glacier in Ladakh after the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram Range , with a maximum length of 23 km (14 mi) at an average elevation of 4,780 m (15,680 ft; 2.97 mi). The glacier lies in
258-424: A cirque landform (alternatively known as a corrie or as a cwm ) – a typically armchair-shaped geological feature (such as a depression between mountains enclosed by arêtes ) – which collects and compresses through gravity the snow that falls into it. This snow accumulates and the weight of the snow falling above compacts it, forming névé (granular snow). Further crushing of the individual snowflakes and squeezing
387-410: A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev . The decades that followed saw further exploration by French, American, and British expeditions. The first confirmed landing was by a Norwegian team in 1895. In the early 20th century, there were a few expeditions into the interior of the continent. British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were
516-527: A few blue-ice areas , the wind and sublimation remove more snow than is accumulated by precipitation. In the dry valleys, the same effect occurs over a rock base, leading to a barren and desiccated landscape. Antarctica is colder than the Arctic region, as much of Antarctica is over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, where air temperatures are colder. The relative warmth of the Arctic Ocean
645-522: A glacier is usually assessed by determining the glacier mass balance or observing terminus behavior. Healthy glaciers have large accumulation zones, more than 60% of their area is snow-covered at the end of the melt season, and they have a terminus with a vigorous flow. Following the Little Ice Age 's end around 1850, glaciers around the Earth have retreated substantially . A slight cooling led to
774-601: A glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water. On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets (also known as "continental glaciers") in the polar regions , but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on every continent other than the Australian mainland, including Oceania's high-latitude oceanic island countries such as New Zealand . Between latitudes 35°N and 35°S, glaciers occur only in
903-411: A glacier via moulins . Streams within or beneath a glacier flow in englacial or sub-glacial tunnels. These tunnels sometimes reemerge at the glacier's surface. Most of the important processes controlling glacial motion occur in the ice-bed contact—even though it is only a few meters thick. The bed's temperature, roughness and softness define basal shear stress, which in turn defines whether movement of
1032-542: A gorge of the Suru River and below two mountain peaks, Nun and Kun . After crossing the Pensi La mountain pass a trek of one day from the road leads to the head of Drang-Drung glacier. The road is only open to traffic from May–September due to heavy snowfall at Zojila and Pensi La passes, and the best time to visit is July to August. Glacier A glacier ( US : / ˈ ɡ l eɪ ʃ ər / ; UK : / ˈ ɡ l æ s i ər , ˈ ɡ l eɪ s i ər / )
1161-408: A kilometer per year. Eventually, the ice will be surging fast enough that it begins to thin, as accumulation cannot keep up with the transport. This thinning will increase the conductive heat loss, slowing the glacier and causing freezing. This freezing will slow the glacier further, often until it is stationary, whence the cycle can begin again. The flow of water under the glacial surface can have
1290-404: A large effect on the motion of the glacier itself. Subglacial lakes contain significant amounts of water, which can move fast: cubic kilometers can be transported between lakes over the course of a couple of years. This motion is thought to occur in two main modes: pipe flow involves liquid water moving through pipe-like conduits, like a sub-glacial river; sheet flow involves motion of water in
1419-460: A lower heat conductance, meaning that the basal temperature is also likely to be higher. Bed temperature tends to vary in a cyclic fashion. A cool bed has a high strength, reducing the speed of the glacier. This increases the rate of accumulation, since newly fallen snow is not transported away. Consequently, the glacier thickens, with three consequences: firstly, the bed is better insulated, allowing greater retention of geothermal heat. Secondly,
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#17327838880611548-525: A mild climate. West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere , and during the time, large amounts of sandstones , limestones , and shales were deposited. East Antarctica was at the equator, where seafloor invertebrates and trilobites flourished in the tropical seas. By the start of the Devonian period (416 Ma ), Gondwana was in more southern latitudes, and the climate
1677-457: A native bacterial community within the subterranean water body of Lake Vostok . The existence of life there is thought to strengthen the argument for the possibility of life on Jupiter 's moon Europa , which may have water beneath its water-ice crust. There exists a community of extremophile bacteria in the highly alkaline waters of Lake Untersee . The prevalence of highly resilient creatures in such inhospitable areas could further bolster
1806-701: A number of mountain ranges in the region, the most prominent being the Ellsworth Mountains. The presence of the West Antarctic Rift System has resulted in volcanism along the border between West and East Antarctica, as well as the creation of the Transantarctic Mountains. East Antarctica is geologically varied. Its formation began during the Archean Eon (4,000 Ma–2,500 Ma), and stopped during
1935-488: A thin layer. A switch between the two flow conditions may be associated with surging behavior. Indeed, the loss of sub-glacial water supply has been linked with the shut-down of ice movement in the Kamb ice stream. The subglacial motion of water is expressed in the surface topography of ice sheets, which slump down into vacated subglacial lakes. The speed of glacial displacement is partly determined by friction . Friction makes
2064-410: A tremendous impact as the iceberg strikes the water. Tidewater glaciers undergo centuries-long cycles of advance and retreat that are much less affected by climate change than other glaciers. Thermally, a temperate glacier is at a melting point throughout the year, from its surface to its base. The ice of a polar glacier is always below the freezing threshold from the surface to its base, although
2193-655: Is 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in). From the end of the Neoproterozoic era to the Cretaceous , Antarctica was part of the supercontinent Gondwana . Modern Antarctica was formed as Gondwana gradually broke apart beginning around 183 Ma. For a large proportion of the Phanerozoic , Antarctica had a tropical or temperate climate , and it was covered in forests. During the Cambrian period , Gondwana had
2322-468: Is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries . It acquires distinguishing features, such as crevasses and seracs , as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques , moraines , or fjords . Although
2451-456: Is above or at freezing at the interface and is able to slide at this contact. This contrast is thought to a large extent to govern the ability of a glacier to effectively erode its bed , as sliding ice promotes plucking at rock from the surface below. Glaciers which are partly cold-based and partly warm-based are known as polythermal . Glaciers form where the accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation . A glacier usually originates from
2580-407: Is affected by factors such as slope, ice thickness, snowfall, longitudinal confinement, basal temperature, meltwater production, and bed hardness. A few glaciers have periods of very rapid advancement called surges . These glaciers exhibit normal movement until suddenly they accelerate, then return to their previous movement state. These surges may be caused by the failure of the underlying bedrock,
2709-542: Is almost 18,000 km (11,200 mi) long: as of 1983 , of the four coastal types, 44% of the coast is floating ice in the form of an ice shelf , 38% consists of ice walls that rest on rock, 13% is ice streams or the edge of glaciers, and the remaining 5% is exposed rock. The lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet occur mainly in the McMurdo Dry Valleys or various oases . Lake Vostok , discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station ,
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#17327838880612838-411: Is because these peaks are located near or in the hyperarid Atacama Desert . Glaciers erode terrain through two principal processes: plucking and abrasion . As glaciers flow over bedrock, they soften and lift blocks of rock into the ice. This process, called plucking, is caused by subglacial water that penetrates fractures in the bedrock and subsequently freezes and expands. This expansion causes
2967-480: Is being revealed by techniques such as remote sensing , ground-penetrating radar , and satellite imagery . Geologically, West Antarctica closely resembles the South American Andes . The Antarctic Peninsula was formed by geologic uplift and the transformation of sea bed sediments into metamorphic rocks . West Antarctica was formed by the merging of several continental plates , which created
3096-406: Is by basal sliding, where meltwater forms between the ice and the bed itself. Whether a bed is hard or soft depends on the porosity and pore pressure; higher porosity decreases the sediment strength (thus increases the shear stress τ B ). Porosity may vary through a range of methods. Bed softness may vary in space or time, and changes dramatically from glacier to glacier. An important factor
3225-434: Is called glaciology . Glaciers are important components of the global cryosphere . Glaciers are categorized by their morphology, thermal characteristics, and behavior. Alpine glaciers form on the crests and slopes of mountains. A glacier that fills a valley is called a valley glacier , or alternatively, an alpine glacier or mountain glacier . A large body of glacial ice astride a mountain, mountain range, or volcano
3354-416: Is called rock flour and is made up of rock grains between 0.002 and 0.00625 mm in size. Abrasion leads to steeper valley walls and mountain slopes in alpine settings, which can cause avalanches and rock slides, which add even more material to the glacier. Glacial abrasion is commonly characterized by glacial striations . Glaciers produce these when they contain large boulders that carve long scratches in
3483-449: Is caused by the emission of chlorofluorocarbons and halons into the atmosphere, which causes ozone to break down into other gases. The extreme cold conditions of Antarctica allow polar stratospheric clouds to form. The clouds act as catalysts for chemical reactions, which eventually lead to the destruction of ozone. The 1987 Montreal Protocol has restricted the emissions of ozone-depleting substances. The ozone hole above Antarctica
3612-711: Is divided into West Antarctica and East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains , which stretch from Victoria Land to the Ross Sea . The vast majority of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , which averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi) in thickness. The ice sheet extends to all but a few oases , which, with the exception of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, are located in coastal areas. Several Antarctic ice streams flow to one of
3741-470: Is evidence of a large number of volcanoes under the ice, which could pose a risk to the ice sheet if activity levels were to rise. The ice dome known as Dome Argus in East Antarctica is the highest Antarctic ice feature, at 4,091 metres (13,422 ft). It is one of the world's coldest and driest places—temperatures there may reach as low as −90 °C (−130 °F), and the annual precipitation
3870-408: Is expected to add about 11 cm (5 in) to global sea level rise . Marine ice sheet instability may cause West Antarctica to contribute tens of centimeters more if it is triggered before 2100. With higher warming, instability would be much more likely, and could double global, 21st-century sea-level rise. The fresh, 1100-1500 billion tons (GT) per year of meltwater from the ice dilutes
3999-525: Is higher, and the mountains above 5,000 m (16,400 ft) usually have permanent snow. Even at high latitudes, glacier formation is not inevitable. Areas of the Arctic , such as Banks Island , and the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are considered polar deserts where glaciers cannot form because they receive little snowfall despite the bitter cold. Cold air, unlike warm air, is unable to transport much water vapor. Even during glacial periods of
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4128-582: Is predicted to slowly disappear; by the 2060s, levels of ozone are expected to have returned to values last recorded in the 1980s. The ozone depletion can cause a cooling of around 6 °C (11 °F) in the stratosphere . The cooling strengthens the polar vortex and so prevents the outflow of the cold air near the South Pole, which in turn cools the continental mass of the East Antarctic ice sheet. The peripheral areas of Antarctica, especially
4257-897: Is termed an ice cap or ice field . Ice caps have an area less than 50,000 km (19,000 sq mi) by definition. Glacial bodies larger than 50,000 km (19,000 sq mi) are called ice sheets or continental glaciers . Several kilometers deep, they obscure the underlying topography. Only nunataks protrude from their surfaces. The only extant ice sheets are the two that cover most of Antarctica and Greenland. They contain vast quantities of freshwater, enough that if both melted, global sea levels would rise by over 70 m (230 ft). Portions of an ice sheet or cap that extend into water are called ice shelves ; they tend to be thin with limited slopes and reduced velocities. Narrow, fast-moving sections of an ice sheet are called ice streams . In Antarctica, many ice streams drain into large ice shelves . Some drain directly into
4386-441: Is the largest subglacial lake globally and one of the largest lakes in the world. It was once believed that the lake had been sealed off for millions of years, but scientists now estimate its water is replaced by the slow melting and freezing of ice caps every 13,000 years. During the summer, the ice at the edges of the lakes can melt, and liquid moats temporarily form. Antarctica has both saline and freshwater lakes. Antarctica
4515-413: Is the region where there is a net loss in glacier mass. The upper part of a glacier, where accumulation exceeds ablation, is called the accumulation zone . The equilibrium line separates the ablation zone and the accumulation zone; it is the contour where the amount of new snow gained by accumulation is equal to the amount of ice lost through ablation. In general, the accumulation zone accounts for 60–70% of
4644-402: Is the underlying geology; glacial speeds tend to differ more when they change bedrock than when the gradient changes. Further, bed roughness can also act to slow glacial motion. The roughness of the bed is a measure of how many boulders and obstacles protrude into the overlying ice. Ice flows around these obstacles by melting under the high pressure on their stoss side ; the resultant meltwater
4773-552: Is then forced into the cavity arising in their lee side , where it re-freezes. As well as affecting the sediment stress, fluid pressure (p w ) can affect the friction between the glacier and the bed. High fluid pressure provides a buoyancy force upwards on the glacier, reducing the friction at its base. The fluid pressure is compared to the ice overburden pressure, p i , given by ρgh. Under fast-flowing ice streams, these two pressures will be approximately equal, with an effective pressure (p i – p w ) of 30 kPa; i.e. all of
4902-504: Is transferred through the Arctic sea ice and moderates temperatures in the Arctic region. East Antarctica is colder than its western counterpart because of its higher elevation. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, leaving the centre cold and dry, with moderate wind speeds. Heavy snowfalls are common on the coastal portion of Antarctica, where snowfalls of up to 1.22 m (48 in) in 48 hours have been recorded. At
5031-993: The Andes , the Himalayas , the Rocky Mountains , the Caucasus , Scandinavian Mountains , and the Alps . Snezhnika glacier in Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria with a latitude of 41°46′09″ N is the southernmost glacial mass in Europe. Mainland Australia currently contains no glaciers, although a small glacier on Mount Kosciuszko was present in the last glacial period . In New Guinea, small, rapidly diminishing, glaciers are located on Puncak Jaya . Africa has glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, on Mount Kenya , and in
5160-605: The Antarctic Circle (one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the world), Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean . Rivers exist in Antarctica; the longest is the Onyx . Antarctica covers more than 14.2 million km (5,500,000 sq mi), almost double the area of Australia, making it the fifth-largest continent, and comparable to the surface area of Pluto . Its coastline
5289-499: The Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean ), it contains the geographic South Pole . Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe , and has an area of 14,200,000 km (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi). Antarctica is, on average,
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5418-662: The Beardmore Glacier by Frank Wild on the Nimrod Expedition in 1907, and low-grade coal is known to exist across many parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The Prince Charles Mountains contain deposits of iron ore . There are oil and natural gas fields in the Ross Sea. Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest of Earth's continents. Near the coast, the temperature can exceed 10 °C in summer and fall to below −40 °C in winter. Over
5547-641: The Cretaceous period (146–66 Ma), though southern beech trees ( Nothofagus ) became prominent towards the end of the Cretaceous. Ammonites were common in the seas around Antarctica, and dinosaurs were also present, though only a few Antarctic dinosaur genera ( Cryolophosaurus and Glacialisaurus , from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains, and Antarctopelta , Trinisaura , Morrosaurus and Imperobator from Late Cretaceous of
5676-683: The Early Triassic . The Antarctic Peninsula began to form during the Jurassic period ( 206 to 146 million years ago ). Africa separated from Antarctica in the Jurassic around 160 Ma, followed by the Indian subcontinent in the early Cretaceous (about 125 Ma). Ginkgo trees, conifers, Bennettitales , horsetails , ferns and cycads were plentiful during the time. In West Antarctica, coniferous forests dominated throughout
5805-644: The Faroe and Crozet Islands were completely glaciated. The permanent snow cover necessary for glacier formation is affected by factors such as the degree of slope on the land, amount of snowfall and the winds. Glaciers can be found in all latitudes except from 20° to 27° north and south of the equator where the presence of the descending limb of the Hadley circulation lowers precipitation so much that with high insolation snow lines reach above 6,500 m (21,330 ft). Between 19˚N and 19˚S, however, precipitation
5934-760: The Himalayas , Andes , and a few high mountains in East Africa, Mexico, New Guinea and on Zard-Kuh in Iran. With more than 7,000 known glaciers, Pakistan has more glacial ice than any other country outside the polar regions. Glaciers cover about 10% of Earth's land surface. Continental glaciers cover nearly 13 million km (5 million sq mi) or about 98% of Antarctica 's 13.2 million km (5.1 million sq mi), with an average thickness of ice 2,100 m (7,000 ft). Greenland and Patagonia also have huge expanses of continental glaciers. The volume of glaciers, not including
6063-526: 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. Scientists have studied
6192-562: The Quaternary , Manchuria , lowland Siberia , and central and northern Alaska , though extraordinarily cold, had such light snowfall that glaciers could not form. In addition to the dry, unglaciated polar regions, some mountains and volcanoes in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina are high (4,500 to 6,900 m or 14,800 to 22,600 ft) and cold, but the relative lack of precipitation prevents snow from accumulating into glaciers. This
6321-535: The Rwenzori Mountains . Oceanic islands with glaciers include Iceland, several of the islands off the coast of Norway including Svalbard and Jan Mayen to the far north, New Zealand and the subantarctic islands of Marion , Heard , Grande Terre (Kerguelen) and Bouvet . During glacial periods of the Quaternary, Taiwan , Hawaii on Mauna Kea and Tenerife also had large alpine glaciers, while
6450-420: The crust-like lichen Buellia frigida , has been used as a model organism in astrobiology research. The same features can be observed in algae and cyanobacteria , suggesting that they are adaptations to the conditions prevailing in Antarctica. This has led to speculation that life on Mars might have been similar to Antarctic fungi, such as Cryomyces antarcticus and Cryomyces minteri . Some of
6579-535: The ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica since the 1970s. In 1985, British scientists, working on data they had gathered at Halley Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf , discovered a large area of low ozone concentration over Antarctica. The 'ozone hole' covers almost the whole continent and was at its largest in September 2006; the longest-lasting event occurred in 2020. The depletion
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#17327838880616708-448: The 1990s and 2000s. In a study using data from January 1993 through October 2005, more events were detected every year since 2002, and twice as many events were recorded in 2005 as there were in any other year. Ogives or Forbes bands are alternating wave crests and valleys that appear as dark and light bands of ice on glacier surfaces. They are linked to seasonal motion of glaciers; the width of one dark and one light band generally equals
6837-637: The Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773, in December 1773, and again in January 1774. Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. In 1775, he called the existence of a polar continent "probable", and in another copy of his journal he wrote: "[I] firmly believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen
6966-790: The Antarctic Peninsula) have been described. During the early Paleogene , Antarctica remained connected to South America as well as to southeastern Australia. Fauna from the La Meseta Formation in the Antarctic Peninsula, dating to the Eocene , is very similar to equivalent South American faunas; with marsupials , xenarthrans , litoptern , and astrapotherian ungulates , as well as gondwanatheres and possibly meridiolestidans . Marsupials are thought to have dispersed into Australia via Antarctica by
7095-423: The Antarctic Peninsula, are then subjected to higher temperatures, which accelerate the melting of the ice. Models suggest that ozone depletion and the enhanced polar vortex effect may also account for the period of increasing sea ice extent, lasting from when observation started in the late 1970s until 2014. Since then, the coverage of Antarctic sea ice has decreased rapidly. Most species in Antarctica seem to be
7224-529: The Antarctic Peninsula: Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hair grass), Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort) and the non-native Poa annua (annual bluegrass). Of the 700 species of algae in Antarctica, around half are marine phytoplankton . Multicoloured snow algae are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer. Even sea ice can harbour unique ecological communities, as it expels all salt from
7353-674: The Cambrian Period. It is built on a craton of rock, which is the basis of the Precambrian Shield . On top of the base are coal and sandstones, limestones, and shales that were laid down during the Devonian and Jurassic periods to form the Transantarctic Mountains. In coastal areas such as the Shackleton Range and Victoria Land, some faulting has occurred. Coal was first recorded in Antarctica near
7482-587: The South Pole the romanised Greek name polus antarcticus , from which derived the Old French pole antartike (modern pôle antarctique ) attested in 1270, and from there the Middle English pol antartik , found first in a treatise written by the English author Geoffrey Chaucer . Belief by Europeans in the existence of a Terra Australis —a vast continent in the far south of
7611-593: The West Antarctic, the ocean has warmed by 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1955. The warming of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has caused the weakening or collapse of ice shelves , which float just offshore of glaciers and stabilize them. Many coastal glaciers have been losing mass and retreating, causing net-annual ice loss across Antarctica, although the East Antarctic ice sheet continues to gain ice inland. By 2100, net ice loss from Antarctica
7740-412: The advance of many alpine glaciers between 1950 and 1985, but since 1985 glacier retreat and mass loss has become larger and increasingly ubiquitous. Glaciers move downhill by the force of gravity and the internal deformation of ice. At the molecular level, ice consists of stacked layers of molecules with relatively weak bonds between layers. When the amount of strain (deformation) is proportional to
7869-520: The air from the snow turns it into "glacial ice". This glacial ice will fill the cirque until it "overflows" through a geological weakness or vacancy, such as a gap between two mountains. When the mass of snow and ice reaches sufficient thickness, it begins to move by a combination of surface slope, gravity, and pressure. On steeper slopes, this can occur with as little as 15 m (49 ft) of snow-ice. In temperate glaciers, snow repeatedly freezes and thaws, changing into granular ice called firn . Under
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#17327838880617998-430: The amount of melting at surface of the glacier, the faster the ice will flow. Basal sliding is dominant in temperate or warm-based glaciers. The presence of basal meltwater depends on both bed temperature and other factors. For instance, the melting point of water decreases under pressure, meaning that water melts at a lower temperature under thicker glaciers. This acts as a "double whammy", because thicker glaciers have
8127-713: The annual movement of the glacier. Ogives are formed when ice from an icefall is severely broken up, increasing ablation surface area during summer. This creates a swale and space for snow accumulation in the winter, which in turn creates a ridge. Sometimes ogives consist only of undulations or color bands and are described as wave ogives or band ogives. Glaciers are present on every continent and in approximately fifty countries, excluding those (Australia, South Africa) that have glaciers only on distant subantarctic island territories. Extensive glaciers are found in Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, Canada, Pakistan, Alaska, Greenland and Iceland. Mountain glaciers are widespread, especially in
8256-634: The argument for extraterrestrial life in cold, methane -rich environments. The first international agreement to protect Antarctica's biodiversity was adopted in 1964. The overfishing of krill (an animal that plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem) led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources , an international treaty that came into force in 1980, regulates fisheries, aiming to preserve ecological relationships. Despite these regulations, illegal fishing —particularly of
8385-432: The bedrock has frequent fractures on the surface, glacial erosion rates tend to increase as plucking is the main erosive force on the surface; when the bedrock has wide gaps between sporadic fractures, however, abrasion tends to be the dominant erosive form and glacial erosion rates become slow. Glaciers in lower latitudes tend to be much more erosive than glaciers in higher latitudes, because they have more meltwater reaching
8514-445: The bedrock. By mapping the direction of the striations, researchers can determine the direction of the glacier's movement. Similar to striations are chatter marks , lines of crescent-shape depressions in the rock underlying a glacier. They are formed by abrasion when boulders in the glacier are repeatedly caught and released as they are dragged along the bedrock. The rate of glacier erosion varies. Six factors control erosion rate: When
8643-416: The biodiversity in Antarctica is still at risk from human activities. Specially protected areas cover less than 2% of the area and provide better protection for animals with popular appeal than for less visible animals. There are more terrestrial protected areas than marine protected areas . Ecosystems are impacted by local and global threats, notably pollution , the invasion of non-native species , and
8772-584: The climate cooled, though flora remained. After deglaciation during the latter half of the Early Permian , the land became dominated by glossopterids (an extinct group of seed plants with no close living relatives), most prominently Glossopteris , a tree interpreted as growing in waterlogged soils, which formed extensive coal deposits. Other plants found in Antarctica during the Permian include Cordaitales , sphenopsids , ferns, and lycophytes . At
8901-399: The coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation . It is mainly a polar desert , with annual precipitation of over 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 metres (200 ft). Antarctica holds
9030-527: The colonial authorities in Sydney officially renamed the continent of New Holland to Australia, leaving the term "Terra Australis" unavailable as a reference to Antarctica. Over the following decades, geographers used phrases such as "the Antarctic Continent". They searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting names such as Ultima and Antipodea . Antarctica was adopted in the 1890s, with
9159-510: The continent as a World Park . The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established in 1994 by the International Whaling Commission . It covers 50 million km (19 million sq mi) and completely surrounds the Antarctic continent. All commercial whaling is banned in the zone, though Japan has continued to hunt whales in the area, ostensibly for research purposes. Despite these protections,
9288-599: The continent's edge, strong katabatic winds off of the polar plateau often blow at storm force . During the summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at the South Pole than at the equator because of the 24 hours of sunlight received there each day. 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
9417-496: 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
9546-571: The created ice's density. The word glacier is a loanword from French and goes back, via Franco-Provençal , to the Vulgar Latin glaciārium , derived from the Late Latin glacia , and ultimately Latin glaciēs , meaning "ice". The processes and features caused by or related to glaciers are referred to as glacial. The process of glacier establishment, growth and flow is called glaciation . The corresponding area of study
9675-402: The creation of small yet permanent polar ice caps. As CO 2 levels declined further the ice began to spread rapidly, replacing the forests that until then had covered Antarctica. Tundra ecosystems continued to exist on Antarctica until around 14-10 million years ago, when further cooling lead to their extermination. The geology of Antarctica, largely obscured by the continental ice sheet,
9804-467: The deep profile of fjords , which can reach a kilometer in depth as ice is topographically steered into them. The extension of fjords inland increases the rate of ice sheet thinning since they are the principal conduits for draining ice sheets. It also makes the ice sheets more sensitive to changes in climate and the ocean. Although evidence in favor of glacial flow was known by the early 19th century, other theories of glacial motion were advanced, such as
9933-483: The deformation to become a plastic flow rather than elastic. Then, the glacier will begin to deform under its own weight and flow across the landscape. According to the Glen–Nye flow law , the relationship between stress and strain, and thus the rate of internal flow, can be modeled as follows: where: The lowest velocities are near the base of the glacier and along valley sides where friction acts against flow, causing
10062-549: The descendants of species that lived there millions of years ago. As such, they must have survived multiple glacial cycles . The species survived the periods of extremely cold climate in isolated warmer areas , such as those with geothermal heat or areas that remained ice-free throughout the colder climate. Invertebrate life of Antarctica includes species of microscopic mites such as Alaskozetes antarcticus , lice , nematodes , tardigrades , rotifers , krill and springtails . The few terrestrial invertebrates are limited to
10191-582: The early Eocene. Around 53 Ma, Australia- New Guinea separated from Antarctica, opening the Tasmanian Passage . The Drake Passage opened between Antarctica and South America around 30 Ma, resulting in the creation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that completely isolated the continent. Models of Antarctic geography suggest that this current, as well as a feedback loop caused by lowering CO 2 levels, caused
10320-489: The elevated inland, it can rise to about −30 °C in summer but fall below −80 °C in winter. The lowest natural air temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. A lower air temperature of −94.7 °C (−138.5 °F) was recorded in 2010 by satellite—however, it may have been influenced by ground temperatures and
10449-553: The end of that period. During the colder Neogene (17–2.5 Ma), a tundra ecosystem replaced the rainforests. The climate of present-day Antarctica does not allow extensive vegetation to form. A combination of freezing temperatures, poor soil quality , and a lack of moisture and sunlight inhibit plant growth, causing low species diversity and limited distribution. The flora largely consists of bryophytes (25 species of liverworts and 100 species of mosses ). There are three species of flowering plants , all of which are found in
10578-587: The end of the Permian, the climate became drier and hotter over much of Gondwana, and the glossopterid forest ecosystems collapsed, as part of the End-Permian mass extinction . There is no evidence of any tetrapods having lived in Antarctica during the Paleozoic. The continued warming dried out much of Gondwana. During the Triassic, Antarctica was dominated by seed ferns (pteridosperms) belonging to
10707-418: The essentially correct explanation in the 1840s, although it was several decades before it was fully accepted. The top 50 m (160 ft) of a glacier are rigid because they are under low pressure . This upper section is known as the fracture zone and moves mostly as a single unit over the plastic-flowing lower section. When a glacier moves through irregular terrain, cracks called crevasses develop in
10836-454: The first to reach the magnetic South Pole in 1909, and the geographic South Pole was first reached in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen . Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries , all of which are parties of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System . According to the terms of the treaty, military activity, mining, nuclear explosions , and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited in Antarctica. Tourism , fishing and research are
10965-473: The first use of the name being attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew . Antarctica has also been known by the moniker Great White South , after which British photographer Herbert Ponting named one of his books on Antarctic photography, possibly as a counterpart to the epithet Great White North for Canada . Positioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of
11094-475: The fracture zone. Crevasses form because of differences in glacier velocity. If two rigid sections of a glacier move at different speeds or directions, shear forces cause them to break apart, opening a crevasse. Crevasses are seldom more than 46 m (150 ft) deep but, in some cases, can be at least 300 m (1,000 ft) deep. Beneath this point, the plasticity of the ice prevents the formation of cracks. Intersecting crevasses can create isolated peaks in
11223-402: The gap of 12,000 km (7,456 mi). Large animals such as some cetaceans and birds make the round trip annually. Smaller forms of life, such as sea cucumbers and free-swimming snails , are also found in both polar oceans. Factors that may aid in their distribution include temperature differences between the deep ocean at the poles and the equator of no more than 5 °C (9 °F) and
11352-502: The genus Dicroidium , which grew as trees. Other associated Triassic flora included ginkgophytes , cycadophytes , conifers , and sphenopsids. Tetrapods first appeared in Antarctica during the early Triassic , with the earliest known fossils found in the Fremouw Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains. Synapsids (also known as "mammal-like reptiles") included species such as Lystrosaurus , and were common during
11481-468: The glacial base and facilitate sediment production and transport under the same moving speed and amount of ice. Material that becomes incorporated in a glacier is typically carried as far as the zone of ablation before being deposited. Glacial deposits are of two distinct types: Antarctica Antarctica ( / æ n ˈ t ɑːr k t ɪ k ə / ) is Earth 's southernmost and least-populated continent . Situated almost entirely south of
11610-453: The glacier to melt, creating a water source that is especially important for plants, animals and human uses when other sources may be scant. However, within high-altitude and Antarctic environments, the seasonal temperature difference is often not sufficient to release meltwater. Since glacial mass is affected by long-term climatic changes, e.g., precipitation , mean temperature , and cloud cover , glacial mass changes are considered among
11739-428: The glacier will be accommodated by motion in the sediments, or if it'll be able to slide. A soft bed, with high porosity and low pore fluid pressure, allows the glacier to move by sediment sliding: the base of the glacier may even remain frozen to the bed, where the underlying sediment slips underneath it like a tube of toothpaste. A hard bed cannot deform in this way; therefore the only way for hard-based glaciers to move
11868-510: The glacier's surface area, more if the glacier calves icebergs. Ice in the accumulation zone is deep enough to exert a downward force that erodes underlying rock. After a glacier melts, it often leaves behind a bowl- or amphitheater-shaped depression that ranges in size from large basins like the Great Lakes to smaller mountain depressions known as cirques . The accumulation zone can be subdivided based on its melt conditions. The health of
11997-415: The glacier. @ladakh_adventure_0.1 The Drang-Drung Glacier is accessible from Srinagar or Srinagar Airport in two days, 331 km (206 mi) by car or bus along NH 1D , which connects Srinagar and Leh through the towns of Ganderbal , Kangan , Sonamarg , and Dras . Kargil town is at the half-way point. From Kargil the glacier lies on the right side of Kargil-Zanaskar Road which passes through
12126-525: The globe to balance the northern lands of Europe, Asia, and North Africa—had existed as an intellectual concept since classical antiquity . The belief in such a land lasted until the European discovery of Australia . During the early 19th century, explorer Matthew Flinders doubted the existence of a detached continent south of Australia (then called New Holland ) and thus advocated for the "Terra Australis" name to be used for Australia instead. In 1824,
12255-582: The highly prized Patagonian toothfish which is marketed as Chilean sea bass in the U.S.—remains a problem. In analogy to the 1980 treaty on sustainable fishing , countries led by New Zealand and the United States negotiated a treaty on mining. This Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities was adopted in 1988. After a strong campaign from environmental organisations, first Australia and then France decided not to ratify
12384-619: The ice at the bottom of the glacier move more slowly than ice at the top. In alpine glaciers, friction is also generated at the valley's sidewalls, which slows the edges relative to the center. Mean glacial speed varies greatly but is typically around 1 m (3 ft) per day. There may be no motion in stagnant areas; for example, in parts of Alaska, trees can establish themselves on surface sediment deposits. In other cases, glaciers can move as fast as 20–30 m (70–100 ft) per day, such as in Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbræ . Glacial speed
12513-420: The ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, has been estimated at 170,000 km . Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, holding with ice sheets about 69 percent of the world's freshwater. Many glaciers from temperate , alpine and seasonal polar climates store water as ice during the colder seasons and release it later in the form of meltwater as warmer summer temperatures cause
12642-556: The ice to act as a lever that loosens the rock by lifting it. Thus, sediments of all sizes become part of the glacier's load. If a retreating glacier gains enough debris, it may become a rock glacier , like the Timpanogos Glacier in Utah. Abrasion occurs when the ice and its load of rock fragments slide over bedrock and function as sandpaper, smoothing and polishing the bedrock below. The pulverized rock this process produces
12771-488: The ice, called seracs . Crevasses can form in several different ways. Transverse crevasses are transverse to flow and form where steeper slopes cause a glacier to accelerate. Longitudinal crevasses form semi-parallel to flow where a glacier expands laterally. Marginal crevasses form near the edge of the glacier, caused by the reduction in speed caused by friction of the valley walls. Marginal crevasses are largely transverse to flow. Moving glacier ice can sometimes separate from
12900-411: The idea that meltwater, refreezing inside glaciers, caused the glacier to dilate and extend its length. As it became clear that glaciers behaved to some degree as if the ice were a viscous fluid, it was argued that "regelation", or the melting and refreezing of ice at a temperature lowered by the pressure on the ice inside the glacier, was what allowed the ice to deform and flow. James Forbes came up with
13029-418: The increased pressure can facilitate melting. Most importantly, τ D is increased. These factors will combine to accelerate the glacier. As friction increases with the square of velocity, faster motion will greatly increase frictional heating, with ensuing melting – which causes a positive feedback, increasing ice speed to a faster flow rate still: west Antarctic glaciers are known to reach velocities of up to
13158-423: The infrared OH stretching mode of the water molecule. (Liquid water appears blue for the same reason. The blue of glacier ice is sometimes misattributed to Rayleigh scattering of bubbles in the ice.) A glacier originates at a location called its glacier head and terminates at its glacier foot, snout, or terminus . Glaciers are broken into zones based on surface snowpack and melt conditions. The ablation zone
13287-553: The islands of the Kerguelen Plateau , the earliest of which formed around 40 Ma . Vinson Massif , in the Ellsworth Mountains , is the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft). Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano and erupts around 10 times each day. Ash from eruptions has been found 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the volcanic crater . There
13416-467: The main human activities in and around Antarctica. During the summer months, about 5,000 people reside at research stations , a figure that drops to around 1,000 in the winter. Despite the continent's remoteness, human activity has a significant effect on it via pollution , ozone depletion , and climate change . The melting of the potentially unstable West Antarctic ice sheet causes the most uncertainty in century-scale projections of sea level rise , and
13545-814: The major current systems or marine conveyor belts which are able to transport eggs and larva . About 1,150 species of fungi have been recorded in the Antarctic region, of which about 750 are non- lichen -forming. Some of the species, having evolved under extreme conditions, have colonised structural cavities within porous rocks and have contributed to shaping the rock formations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and surrounding mountain ridges. The simplified morphology of such fungi, along with their similar biological structures , metabolism systems capable of remaining active at very low temperatures, and reduced life cycles, make them well suited to such environments. Their thick-walled and strongly melanised cells make them resistant to UV radiation. An Antarctic endemic species,
13674-671: The many Antarctic ice shelves , a process described by ice-sheet dynamics . East Antarctica comprises Coats Land , Queen Maud Land , Enderby Land , Mac . Robertson Land , Wilkes Land , and Victoria Land. All but a small portion of the region lies within the Eastern Hemisphere . East Antarctica is largely covered by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet . There are numerous islands surrounding Antarctica, most of which are volcanic and very young by geological standards. The most prominent exceptions to this are
13803-679: The most deformation. Velocity increases inward toward the center line and upward, as the amount of deformation decreases. The highest flow velocities are found at the surface, representing the sum of the velocities of all the layers below. Because ice can flow faster where it is thicker, the rate of glacier-induced erosion is directly proportional to the thickness of overlying ice. Consequently, pre-glacial low hollows will be deepened and pre-existing topography will be amplified by glacial action, while nunataks , which protrude above ice sheets, barely erode at all – erosion has been estimated as 5 m per 1.2 million years. This explains, for example,
13932-445: The most sensitive indicators of climate change and are a major source of variations in sea level . A large piece of compressed ice, or a glacier, appears blue , as large quantities of water appear blue , because water molecules absorb other colors more efficiently than blue. The other reason for the blue color of glaciers is the lack of air bubbles. Air bubbles, which give a white color to ice, are squeezed out by pressure increasing
14061-587: The north'). Antarcticus is derived from the Greek ἀντι- ('anti-') and ἀρκτικός ('of the Bear ', 'northern'). The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in Meteorology about an "Antarctic region" in c. 350 BCE . The Greek geographer Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his world map from the second century CE, now lost. The Roman authors Gaius Julius Hyginus and Apuleius used for
14190-688: The northeastern Himalayan Range known as the Zanskar Range , 142 km (88 mi) south of Kargil and 331 km (206 mi) east of Srinagar , the capital of Jammu and Kashmir . The Drang-Drung Glacier is a long river of ice and snow, a source of the Stod River , a tributary of the Zanskar River , itself a tributary of the Indus River . Doda Peak with an elevation of 6,550 m (21,490 ft; 4.07 mi) rises from
14319-578: The ocean around Antarctica, including some that normally reside in the Arctic. The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica; it and the Adélie penguin breed farther south than any other penguin. A Census of Marine Life by some 500 researchers during the International Polar Year was released in 2010. The research found that more than 235 marine organisms live in both polar regions, having bridged
14448-725: The pooling of meltwater at the base of the glacier — perhaps delivered from a supraglacial lake — or the simple accumulation of mass beyond a critical "tipping point". Temporary rates up to 90 m (300 ft) per day have occurred when increased temperature or overlying pressure caused bottom ice to melt and water to accumulate beneath a glacier. In glaciated areas where the glacier moves faster than one km per year, glacial earthquakes occur. These are large scale earthquakes that have seismic magnitudes as high as 6.1. The number of glacial earthquakes in Greenland peaks every year in July, August, and September and increased rapidly in
14577-410: The pressure of the layers of ice and snow above it, this granular ice fuses into denser firn. Over a period of years, layers of firn undergo further compaction and become glacial ice. Glacier ice is slightly more dense than ice formed from frozen water because glacier ice contains fewer trapped air bubbles. Glacial ice has a distinctive blue tint because it absorbs some red light due to an overtone of
14706-424: The record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth , −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer. Native species of animals include mites , nematodes , penguins , seals and tardigrades . Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss . The ice shelves of Antarctica were probably first seen in 1820, during
14835-539: 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 the full effects are expected to occur over multiple centuries; these include less precipitation in the Southern Hemisphere but more in
14964-480: The same melting also affects the Southern Ocean overturning circulation , which can eventually lead to significant impacts on the Southern Hemisphere climate and Southern Ocean productivity. The name given to the continent originates from the word antarctic , which comes from Middle French antartique or antarctique ('opposite to the Arctic ') and, in turn, the Latin antarcticus ('opposite to
15093-567: The sea, often with an ice tongue , like Mertz Glacier . Tidewater glaciers are glaciers that terminate in the sea, including most glaciers flowing from Greenland, Antarctica, Baffin , Devon , and Ellesmere Islands in Canada, Southeast Alaska , and the Northern and Southern Patagonian Ice Fields . As the ice reaches the sea, pieces break off or calve, forming icebergs . Most tidewater glaciers calve above sea level, which often results in
15222-406: The species of fungi, which are apparently endemic to Antarctica, live in bird dung, and have evolved so they can grow inside extremely cold dung, but can also pass through the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Throughout its history, Antarctica has seen a wide variety of plant life. In the Cretaceous , it was dominated by a fern- conifer ecosystem, which changed into a temperate rainforest by
15351-409: The stagnant ice above, forming a bergschrund . Bergschrunds resemble crevasses but are singular features at a glacier's margins. Crevasses make travel over glaciers hazardous, especially when they are hidden by fragile snow bridges . Below the equilibrium line, glacial meltwater is concentrated in stream channels. Meltwater can pool in proglacial lakes on top of a glacier or descend into the depths of
15480-423: The stress being applied, ice will act as an elastic solid. Ice needs to be at least 30 m (98 ft) thick to even start flowing, but once its thickness exceeds about 50 m (160 ft) (160 ft), stress on the layer above will exceeds the inter-layer binding strength, and then it'll move faster than the layer below. This means that small amounts of stress can result in a large amount of strain, causing
15609-683: The sub-Antarctic islands. The flightless midge Belgica antarctica , the largest purely terrestrial animal in Antarctica, reaches 6 mm ( 1 ⁄ 4 in) in size. Antarctic krill , which congregates in large schools , is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, being an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals , fur seals, squid , icefish , and many bird species, such as penguins and albatrosses . Some species of marine animals exist and rely, directly or indirectly, on phytoplankton . Antarctic sea life includes penguins , blue whales , orcas , colossal squids and fur seals . The Antarctic fur seal
15738-438: The surface snowpack may experience seasonal melting. A subpolar glacier includes both temperate and polar ice, depending on the depth beneath the surface and position along the length of the glacier. In a similar way, the thermal regime of a glacier is often described by its basal temperature. A cold-based glacier is below freezing at the ice-ground interface and is thus frozen to the underlying substrate. A warm-based glacier
15867-592: The treaty. Instead, countries adopted the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol), which entered into force in 1998. The Madrid Protocol bans all mining, designating the continent as a "natural reserve devoted to peace and science". The pressure group Greenpeace established a base on Ross Island from 1987 to 1992 as part of its attempt to establish
15996-470: The various effects of climate change . Early world maps, like the 1513 Piri Reis map , feature the hypothetical continent Terra Australis . Much larger than and unrelated to Antarctica, Terra Australis was a landmass that classical scholars presumed necessary to balance the known lands in the northern hemisphere. Captain James Cook 's ships, HMS Resolution and Adventure , crossed
16125-412: The water when it freezes, which accumulates into pockets of brine that also harbour dormant microorganisms. When the ice begins to melt, brine pockets expand and can combine to form brine channels, and the algae inside the pockets can reawaken and thrive until the next freeze. Bacteria have also been found as deep as 800 m (0.50 mi) under the ice. It is thought to be likely that there exists
16254-417: The weight of the ice is supported by the underlying water, and the glacier is afloat. Glaciers may also move by basal sliding , where the base of the glacier is lubricated by the presence of liquid water, reducing basal shear stress and allowing the glacier to slide over the terrain on which it sits. Meltwater may be produced by pressure-induced melting, friction or geothermal heat . The more variable
16383-529: Was cooler, though fossils of land plants are known from then. Sand and silts were laid down in what is now the Ellsworth, Horlick , and Pensacola Mountains . Antarctica became glaciated during the Late Paleozoic icehouse beginning at the end of the Devonian period (360 Ma), though glaciation would substantially increase during the late Carboniferous . It drifted closer to the South Pole, and
16512-472: Was not recorded at a height of 2 m (7 ft) above the surface as required for official air temperature records. Antarctica is a polar desert with little precipitation ; the continent receives an average equivalent to about 150 mm (6 in) of water per year, mostly in the form of snow. The interior is dryer and receives less than 50 mm (2 in) per year, whereas the coastal regions typically receive more than 200 mm (8 in). In
16641-503: Was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by seal hunters from the United States and the United Kingdom. Leopard seals are apex predators in the Antarctic ecosystem and migrate across the Southern Ocean in search of food. There are approximately 40 bird species that breed on or close to Antarctica, including species of petrels , penguins , cormorants , and gulls . Various other bird species visit
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