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87-499: Princess Martha Coast was the first portion of Antarctic mainland discovered by a human, Fabian von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev in 1820. The name "Crown Princess Martha Land" was originally applied by Capt. Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen to that section of the coast in the vicinity of Cape Norvegia which he discovered from the Norvegia and roughly charted from the air during February 1930. On 19 January 1939 Nazi Germany reached

174-527: 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

261-483: 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 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

348-406: A few expeditions into the interior of the continent. British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were 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

435-457: 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

522-701: 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

609-581: 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 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

696-399: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Fabian von Bellingshausen Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen or Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von Bellingshausen (20 September [ O.S. 9 September] 1778 – 25 January [ O.S. 13 January] 1852) was a Russian cartographer , explorer, and naval officer of Baltic German descent, who attained

783-670: Is a monument to Admiral Bellingshausen in Kronstadt , near Saint Petersburg in Russia. 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 the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean ), it contains the geographic South Pole . Antarctica

870-480: 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

957-449: 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

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1044-408: 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

1131-406: Is mostly in the form of lichen or moss . The ice shelves of Antarctica were probably first seen in 1820, during 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

1218-537: 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 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

1305-582: 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

1392-726: Is remembered in Russia as one of its greatest admirals and explorers . In the Antarctic , multiple geographical features and locations, named in honor of Bellingshausen, remind of his role in exploration of the southern polar region. There is a memorial stone of Bellingshausen on the previous site (on the ruins) of Lahhentagge/Lahetaguse manor in Ösel/Saaremaa. There is a monument to Bellingshausen in Mykolaiv, Ukraine , as well as in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and in Montevideo, Uruguay. There

1479-476: 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, 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

1566-508: 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 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

1653-504: 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

1740-675: The Antarctic Peninsula , and made other discoveries in the tropical waters of the Pacific . Made captain-commodore  [ ru ] on his return, Bellingshausen participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829 . Promoted to vice admiral , he again served in the Baltic Fleet in the 1830s. From 1839, he was a military governor of Kronstadt , and gained the rank of admiral in 1843. In 1831, he published

1827-662: 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

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1914-641: 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

2001-683: 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

2088-833: 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 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

2175-475: The McMurdo Dry Valleys or various oases . Lake Vostok , discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station , 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,

2262-596: 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

2349-647: The Pacific Ocean . Subsequently, he commanded several ships of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets . As a prominent cartographer, Bellingshausen was appointed to command the Russian circumnavigation of the globe in 1819–1821, intended to explore the Southern Ocean and to find land in the proximity of the South Pole . Mikhail Lazarev prepared the expedition and was made Bellingshausen's second-in-command and

2436-531: The Phanerozoic , Antarctica had a tropical or temperate climate , and it was covered in forests. During the Cambrian period , Gondwana had 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

2523-617: The South Shetland Islands , and discovered and named Peter I , Zavodovski , Leskov and Visokoi Islands, and a peninsula of the Antarctic mainland that he named the Alexander Coast, but that has more recently borne the designation of Alexander Island . Bellingshausen and Lazarev managed to twice circumnavigate the continent and never lost each other from view. Thus, they disproved Cook 's assertion that it

2610-420: 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

2697-535: 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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2784-567: The "Terra Australis" name to be used for Australia instead. In 1824, 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

2871-580: 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

2958-790: 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

3045-423: 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

3132-529: 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

3219-613: The Antarctic coast at a point with coordinates 69º21'28"S 2º14'50"W and seeing ice-fields there. The point in question lies within twenty miles of the Antarctic mainland. Bellingshausen's diary, his report to the Russian Naval Minister on 21 July 1821 and other documents, available in the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in Saint Petersburg , Russia, were carefully compared with

3306-465: The Australian captain of the ship Campbell Macquarie . When Emperor Alexander I authorized an expedition to the south polar region in 1819, the authorities selected Bellingshausen to lead it as an experienced captain and explorer, and a prominent cartographer. The expedition was intended to explore the Southern Ocean and to find land in the proximity of the South Pole . The preparation work on

3393-674: 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

3480-673: The Martha Coast, as part of the German Antarctic Expedition . It is named in honour of Crown Princess Märtha of Norway . Troll is located in the eastern part, 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast. Explora Escarpment is an undersea escarpment off the coast. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from "Princess Martha Coast" . Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey .   [REDACTED] This Queen Maud Land location article

3567-581: The Permian include Cordaitales , sphenopsids , ferns, and lycophytes . At 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

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3654-469: The South Pole and largely south of 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

3741-642: The Triassic, Antarctica was dominated by seed ferns (pteridosperms) belonging to 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

3828-593: 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

3915-634: 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

4002-416: 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

4089-801: The book on his Antarctic travels, called Double Investigation of the Southern Polar Ocean and the Voyage Around the World . Bellingshausen was born to a Baltic German noble Bellingshausen family in the Lahhetagge Manor  [ et ] , Ösel County in the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire; now Saare County , Estonia . His paternal family had Holsteinish origins; the surname Bellingshausen

4176-528: The captain of the sloop Mirny , while Bellingshausen himself commanded the sloop Vostok . During this expedition, Bellingshausen and Lazarev became the first explorers to see the land of Antarctica on 27 January 1820 ( New Style ), disproving James Cook 's contention that it was impossible to find land in the southern ice-fields. They circumnavigated the continent twice and never lost each other from view. The expedition discovered and named Peter I , Zavodovski , Leskov , Alexander , and Visokoi Islands ,

4263-510: 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 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

4350-722: 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 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

4437-510: 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,

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4524-599: 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

4611-496: 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

4698-402: 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,

4785-549: 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

4872-582: 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

4959-489: 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

5046-553: 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

5133-478: The existence of a Terra Australis —a vast continent in the far south of 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

5220-402: 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

5307-460: 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

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5394-452: The ice at the edges of the lakes can melt, and liquid moats temporarily form. Antarctica has both saline and freshwater lakes. Antarctica 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

5481-454: The late Carboniferous . It drifted closer to the South Pole, and 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

5568-432: The log-books of other claimants by the British polar historian A. G. E. Jones in his 1982 study Antarctica Observed . Jones concluded that Bellingshausen, rather than the Royal Navy's Edward Bransfield on 30 January 1820 or the American Nathaniel Palmer on 17 November 1820, was indeed the discoverer of the sought-after Terra Australis . During the voyage Bellingshausen also visited Meretoto / Ship Cove in New Zealand,

5655-814: 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,

5742-461: The name in his world map from the second century CE, now lost. The Roman authors Gaius Julius Hyginus and Apuleius used for 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

5829-450: 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

5916-406: The president of the Royal Society . Banks had sailed with Captain James Cook fifty years earlier and supplied the Russians with books and charts for their expedition. Leaving Portsmouth on 5 September 1819 the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle (the first to do so since Cook ) on 26 January 1820 ( New Style ). On 27 January, the expedition discovered the Antarctic mainland approaching

6003-415: The rank of admiral . He participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe, and subsequently became a leader of another circumnavigation expedition that discovered the continent of Antarctica . Like Otto von Kotzebue and Adam Johann von Krusenstern , Bellingshausen belonged to the cohort of prominent Baltic German navigators who helped Russia launch its naval expeditions. Bellingshausen

6090-418: 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

6177-406: 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

6264-683: 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

6351-407: The surface area of Pluto . Its coastline 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

6438-406: The terms of the treaty, military activity, mining, nuclear explosions , and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited in Antarctica. Tourism , fishing and research are 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

6525-592: 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

6612-648: The tropical seas. By the start of the Devonian period (416  Ma ), Gondwana was in more southern latitudes, and the climate 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

6699-488: The two ships, the 985-ton sloop-of-war Vostok ("East") and the 530-ton support vessel Mirny ("Peaceful") was carried out by Mikhail Lazarev , who had captained his own circumnavigation of the globe before. Bellingshausen became the captain of Vostok , and Lazarev captained Mirny . The journey started from Kronstadt on 4 June 1819. They stopped briefly in England, where Bellingshausen met with Sir Joseph Banks ,

6786-470: 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

6873-412: 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

6960-468: Was adopted in the 1890s, with 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

7047-611: Was born in the Estonian island of Saaremaa ( Ösel ), in the eponymous family . He started his service in the Russian Baltic Fleet , and after distinguishing himself joined the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth in 1803–1806, serving on the merchant ship Nadezhda under the captaincy of Adam Johann von Krusenstern . After the journey, he published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of

7134-614: Was completed in 1806. After the journey, Bellingshausen published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of the Pacific Ocean . Bellingshausen's career continued with the command of various ships in the Baltic and Black Seas . From 1812 to 1816 he commanded the frigate Minerva and from 1817 to 1819 the frigate Flora , both in the Black Sea Fleet . During 1812 he met on Macquarie Island , half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica , Richard Siddins ,

7221-596: Was first recorded in Lübeck . He enlisted as a cadet in the Imperial Russian Navy at the age of ten. After graduating from the Kronstadt naval academy at age eighteen, Bellingshausen rapidly rose to the rank of captain. A great admirer of Cook 's voyages, Bellingshausen served from 1803 in the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth. He was one of the officers of the vessel Nadezhda ("Hope"), commanded by Adam Johann von Krusenstern . The mission

7308-475: Was impossible to find land in the southern ice fields. The expedition also made discoveries and observations in the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean. Returning to Kronstadt on 4 August 1821, Bellingshausen was made captain-commodore , and received the rank of counter admiral from tsar Nicholas I in 1826. He fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, — particularly in the siege of Varna ,

7395-472: 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

7482-475: Was promoted to vice admiral in 1830, served as a military governor of port Kronstadt at the approaches to St Petersburg , and gained the rank of admiral in 1843. In 1831, he published the book on his Antarctic travel, called Double Investigation of the Southern Polar Ocean and the Voyage Around the World . In 1839 he became a military governor of Kronstadt , the main base of Russian Baltic Fleet , and died there in 1852. Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen

7569-566: 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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