Antarctica or 'Terra Australis'

The continent of Antarctica was chiefly discovered in the 20th century. It is the 5th largest of the seven continents. It is larger than Europe and Australia and coldest and windiest of all. It is also called “Ice continent”. Antarctica has the largest reserve of freshwater. Nearly 11 per cent of the Antarctica’s ice sheets consist of ice – shelves which are massive floating slabs of permanent ice fringing the content.

The large rivers of the ice are called “glaciers“. These glaciers flow either into the ice shelves or directly out of the edge of the continent, where they break up from the iceberg.
The entire continent is dominated by Trans-Antarctic Mountains that separate the eastern from the western part.
These mountains hold back the ice plateau of East Antarctica like a massive dam and are deeply penetrated at places by glaciers that flow into the ice shelves.

Climate and Weather

The climate of Antarctica is not uniform. The high plateau region of East Antarctica yields the lowest year round temperature while the West Antarctica has a milder climate. The interior experiences almost continuous daylight during summer and darkness during winter. In the northward direction, there are fewer days of continuous daylight and darkness. The average annual rainfall is 5 cm making the continent one of the driest deserts. Antarctica experiences several unique optical phenomena including the “Aurora Australis“, “Mirage“, “Perihelion” and “Parselene“.

Vegetation and Animal Life

The constant low temperature and high moisture have limited the plant life almost entirely to Protistas- simple and unicellular organism. Here, only two varieties of flowering plant is known. The warmer waters of the western coast support the seaweeds and phytoplankton. Only microscopic and primitive insects survive here. The southern part has relatively wider variety of animal life including Whale, Seals, Penguins and Albatross.

Mineral Resource

A wide spectrum of mineral resources is found in Antarctica. It consists of coal, copper, lead, iron, molybdenum and others. The deposit of oil and natural gas is found in the continental shelf region. According to the Madrid Agreement of 1991, the use of these mineral resources was banned for 50 years. It has been done to save the ecology and environment of the Antarctica.

National Claims of Antarctica

It was Roald Amundsen who first reached South Pole in 1911. Antarctica has been partitioned into two pie- shaped sectors centered on the South Pole. The “Peninsular Area” of Antarctica has been in controversy where British, Argentinean and Chilean claims over lapped. “Marie Byrd Land” is only sector of such claims. “Antarctica is at least four times as large as India and the southern ocean and nearly as large as Atlantic“.

Antarctica Treaty System (ATS)

The International Geophysical year 1957-58 was the year from where several nations started to cooperate on scientific research in Antarctica. After that several projects were undertaken on diverse geophysical topics and this led to the establishment of Scientific Committee on Antarctica Research (SCAR). It also led to the development of “Antarctic Treaty” in 1959. In 1983, India was admitted as the consultative member. This treaty is chiefly aimed at enhancing the cooperation in Antarctica. According to this treaty,

Antarctica should be used only for the peaceful purposes and prohibits military activities such as waste disposal and weapons Testing. The treaty envisages continued cooperation, mutual inspection of stations and exchange of scientific personnel with the objective of maintaining the ecological balance. The ATS has also formulated several resolutions which consist of:

Conservation of Antarctic marine living resources.
Protocol on environment protection.
Agreed measures for conservation of Antarctic’s flora and fauna.
Convention on Conservation of Antarctic Seals.

Antarctica Fact File

Discovery of Antarctica: It was James Cook who first crossed the Antarctica circle but unable todiscover anything. Firstly, Sir James Clark Ross discovered the “Ross Sea“, the “Victoria Island” and the “Magnetic Pole”. In a race contest to South Pole, Robert F Scott, and Roald Amundsen, participated. On 14th December 1911, Norwegian, Amundsen was able to beat Scott to victory.
Southernmost Post Office: It is situated in Antarctica and operated by a lady.
Aurora Australis: It is the fantastic display of light in characteristic colour, bands and rings ofvarious hues. It is caused by stream of charged particles from the sun, entering into the earth’s upper atmosphere. A more or less similar phenomena in the northern hemisphere is called “Aurora Borealis”.
Fastest Antarctica Crossing: It is “Trans – Antarctica” completed by Ranulph Fiennes, OliverShepard and Charles Burton in 1980 – 82. It is also the leg of Trans – Globe Expedition in 67 days from 28th October 1980 to 11th January 1981.
Ozone Hole: It is the ozone – layer over the continent of Antarctica which was discovered in mid1970s. Its corresponding annual hole was identified over the Arctic Ocean in 1986. This hole is most prominent during the coldest seasons.
Land of Ice: The entire Antarctica is covered with the ice sheet which is as thick as 1800 metres. Ifall the ice of it melts, the sea would rise by 60 metres.
Cold – Pole: It refers to the point with lowest-mean annual temperature in each hemisphere. In thenorthern hemisphere, this is at “Verkhoyansk” in north – east Siberia, Russia. In the south hemisphere, the lowest recorded temperature has been at the “Soviet Research Station” of Vostok on the Antarctic ice plateau. “Vostok” and “Verkhoyansk” are together known as the “Cold Poles of the Earth”.
Southern Ocean: It includes southern portion of India. Atlantic and Pacific ocean and isconsidered as a separate ocean due to its uniform lower temperature and salt concentration, 9. Ross – ice – shelf: It is the largest ice- shelf in the world which is as large as France.
Mt. Erebus: It is a type of active volcano which, along with many other volcanoes, dots thecoastal and island regions.
Vinson Massif: It is the highest Peak in Antarctica.

Lake Victoria: It is the largest Lake in Africa and is the source of “White Nile”. The “Lake Tana” in Ethiopia is the source of “Blue Nile”. Both the White and the Blue Nile meet at the capital city of Sudan, “Khartoum” from where the combined stream is known as “Nile” river. It is the longest river of the world. The “Aswan dam” was built on it which forms the largest man-made lake, “Lake Nasser”.
River Zambezi: It is the largest river of South Africa and natural political boundary between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The famous “Victoria fall” is situated on it. The “Kariba Dam” of Africa is also situated on it.
River Zaire: It is only river in the world to cross the equator twice. “Boyoma or Stanley Falls” is situated on it.
Guinea-Bissau: It is the most rural country in the world. In total GDP, agriculture contributes about 60% and it is also one of the poorest countries of the world.
Perforated State: It is type of state whose geographical boundary completely surrounds that of another state. For example, S. Africa encloses Lesotho and Swaziland.
Gibraltar: It is a gateway between Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The stretch between the steep “Rock of Gibraltar” and “Cape Ceuta” is called “Pillars of Hercules”.
The Great Rift Valley: It is in Africa and runs from the south of lake Malawi to the northward side of Red sea and then through Gulf of Aquaba leads to Dead sea. The extensive volcanic activity believed to accompany continental rifting is exemplified by the large volcanic mountains such as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.
Kalahari Desert: It is situated between the “Orange” and “Zambezi” river. The entire area has the annual rainfall of less than 50 cm. “Bushmen” is the aboriginal people of this desert. They use to collect water in the Ostrich eggshells in dried buck stomachs. They also use to suck dew drops in the drier years.
Barbary State: The north-west African countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are called as Barbary States because of the region’s oldest inhabitants the Berbers. These three countries together constitute the “Maghreb”. The region “Djezira-el-Maghreb” or “Isle of West” is in recognition of Atlas Mountain rising like vast inlands on the west coast of Mediterranean Sea.
Balkans: The entire region of Balkan Peninsula is bounded by Adriatic Aegean and Black sea. It includes Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania and former Yugoslavia. Today the region has fragmented and it is referred as “Balkanization” meaning disintegration.
Discovery of Antarctic: It was James Cook who first cross the boundary of Antarctic Circle. But they were not able to see the landscape. Later on, Sir James Clark Ross discovered the Ross Sea, the Victoria Island and South Magnetic Pole. Robert F. Scott and Ronald Amundsen were the chief contestants. Amundsen of Norway was able to beat Scott to victory on 14th December 1911.
Cold Pole: It refers to the point with the lowest mean annual temperature in each hemisphere. In the North hemisphere this is at “Verkhoyansk” in North-East Siberia, Russia. In the south hemisphere the lowest recorded temperature has been at Soviet research station of Vostok on the Antarctic ice plateau. Therefore, “Vostok” and “Verkhoyansk” together called the cold pole of the earth.
Bentley Subglacial Trench: It is the deepest point in Antarctica. It is “2538” metres. Vinson Massif: It is the highest peak in Antarctica.
Queen Maud Range: It is the longest mountain in Antarctica.
Ross-ice-Shelf: It is the largest “ice-shelf” in the world which is as large as France.
Magnetic Poles: It may be classified into “Magnetic North Pole” and the “Magnetic South Pole”, the former is located on the Prince of Wales Island is North Canada while the later is situated in South Victoria land, Antarctica.
Aurora Australis: The display of southern light is characterized by colour bands and rings of various hues. It is caused by the streams of charged particles from the sun, entering into the earth’s upper atmosphere. A similar phenomenon in the northern hemisphere is “Aurora Borealis”.
Hamites: It refers to the people of northern and eastern Africa, ancient Egypt and Ethiopians.
Semites: It refers to the various ancient and modern people originating in south-west Asia. It consists of “Hebrews” and Arabs. It is also used as the synonymous of the Jews.
Kurds: It chiefly refers to pastoral and war like people of Kurdistan of south-east Turkey and Iran. They are the classic example of stateless nation. A large number of Kurds are divided among the nation of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordon.
Tuaregs: It refers to the Berber and Hamite speaking members of nomadic tribe of Sahara. They wear blue-dyed cloth. The dye rubs off their face and body are resembles with the blue colours. Therefore, they are called “Tuaregs” or the colour of blue.
Aborigines: The term chiefly refers to the original inhabitants of any area such as Maoris of New Zealand and Bushmen of Kalahari.
Basques: It chiefly refers to the pre-European people whose population is about 2 million and who inhabit the Pyrenees Mountain in Northern Spain and south-west France. They remained independent until the 19th century.
Kwajalein or Marshall Islands: It is the largest atoll in the world where USA conducts its missile tests.
Most rainy days of the World: Mt. Waialeale Hawaii has upto 350 rainy days per year.
Pearl Harbour: It is the US Naval base in Honolulu, the Hawaiian capital. It is the place where Japanese launched a bombing attack during World War-II which was retaliated by U.S.A. by dropping atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hawaii: It is the pacific realm of Polynesia which consists of 130 islands. It became the 5015 state of the U.S.A. Most of the Hawaiian Islands are of volcanic origin and the vulcanization is related to the hot spotactivity. “Mauna Loa” and “Mauna Kea” could be considered as two of the tallest mountain peak of the world. All major internal sea-route converge at Hawaii. That’s why it is called “cross-road of the Pacific”.
Earth Day: The “April-22” is celebrated as the earth day to recognize beauty and riches of the earth. It also brought awareness about the over population, energy waste and other significant issues. It was first observed on April-22, 1970.
San Andreas Fault: It is a fracture in Earth’s crust that runs for more than 1000 kms of its length. It cuts through the U.S mainland and marks the meeting points of two plates e.g. Pacific and American plates. The Pacific plate, which is moving northwestward with respect to North American plate, causes earthquakes along the fault.
Environmental Lapse Rate: It refers to the normal rate of temperature decrease with the height. Normally the temperature decrease at the rate of 10ºC for every 165 metres of height above sea level. The higher layers of the atmosphere contain smaller quantities of water vapour and carbon dioxide and hence their capacity to absorb heat energy is much less than that of lower layers. This is the reason why Darjeeling, Nainital and Shimla is cooler than Delhi.
Artificial Rain: The artificial rain is produced by introducing tiny particles of solid carbon dioxide or crystal of silver iodide into the clouds at cloud temerature above 0°C by the process called “cloud seeding”. The seeding agent can be spread into a cloud from an air plane or sent up in rockets. The water-vapour in the cloud condenses around the seeding agent.
Hottest Place: It is the Death Valley of California in USA where temperature of over 49°C was recorded in July and August 1917.
Coldest Place: The Polyus Nedostypnosti of Antarctica has an extrapolated annual mean temperature of -58°C. The coldest measured annual temperature is -57°C. It was recorded at plateau station of Antarctic. The coldest permanently inhabited place in the world is village of “Oymyakon” in Siberia of Russia.
Tornado: It refers to the strongest known atmospheric disturbances with the wind velocity exceeding 300 km/hr. It frequently occurs in “Mississippi Valley” in the U.S. It is called “Twister”. The U.K. has the highest frequency of Tornadoes by area. The highest speed of Tornado is 450 km/hr at Texas.
Tides: The periodic phenomenon of alternate rise and fall in Sea levels is known as “tide”. On the full moon and new moon, tides are the highest and called “Spring Tides” while “Neap Tides” is the tides of 1st and 3rd quarter. Generally the tide occurs twice a day; but the “Southampton Coast” of England experiences tides four times a day. It occurs at regular intervals of 12 hours and 25 minutes. The highest tides recorded in India at Okha, Gujarat. The “Bay of Fundy” has the highest tidal range. Lakes have no tides because moon’s gravitation pull is impossible in small body of water such as lake.
Artesian Well: It is a type of well in which rock layers are down folded into a basin shape so that permeable strata may be sandwiched between impermeable layers. The permeable rocks only come to the surface at the edge of the basin. The permeable layer below it prevents the water from passing downwards while the impermeable layer on top prevents any possibility of water escaping upward. Such a structural basin is called “aquifer”. The water is trapped in the aquifer under great pressure and when a well is bored, the pressure of water all around the basin is sufficient to force the water up to the bore hole so that it gushes into the surface like a fountain. This type of well is more valuable to man because it can be used in Desert region.
Rubber Trees: It is chiefly found in the “Amazon rainforest”. Its scientific name is “Hevea Brasiliensis”. Latex is collected by slashing tree trunks. This is a destructive system, for trees are over trapped and destroyed for profit. With the establishment of rubber plantation in south-east Asia, Amazon River lost its pre-eminent position.
Desert of Atacama: It is an arid type of desert in northern Chile that extends 960 km south from Peru border. It has no vegetation and considered as the “Driest Desert of the World”. The 400 years of drought was recorded in 1971 in the Calama town. The only stream “Rio Loa” reaches the Pacific Ocean. It was ceded to Chile by Peru and Bolivia in 1983-84. Atacama Desert is rich in nitrates, iodine and borax.
Sao Paulo: It is the third largest urban agglomeration in the world after Tokyo and Mexico City. It is the largest urban agglomeration in the southern hemisphere. It accounts for 22% of Brazil’s population and 40% of the country’s GDP. It is also the leading industrial region of America.
Galapagos Islands: It is situated on the north-west of South American mainland and is a part of Equator. The island is a home of many unique species of reptiles, birds and fishes.
Forwarded Capital: When a state relocates its capital to sensitive areas, perhaps near a zone of dispute with an unfriendly neighbour, in part to confirm its determination to sustain its position in that contested zone. Brasilia is located on what has been an internal frontier which has yet to be conquered by still developing Brazil. Another example of forward capital is Islamabad.
Ejidos: They are the agricultural communities of Mexico. The privately owned hacienda land was transferred to them after land reform were instituted by the 1917 constitution. Like cooperative in India, these present an achievement of the deal of land to the landless, but are relatively less productive.
Panama Canal: It is connects the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean. It came into operation in 1913. The U.S.A. had unilateral control of the canal operation and was directly involved in the administration of Panama Canal. But in the year 2000, USA transferred the canal administration to the sovereign state of Panama. The canal measures “64.8” km from Colon on the Atlantic till Panama city on the Pacific and has three locks; Pedro Miguel Lock, Mira Flores Rock and Gatun Lock.
Douglas Fir: It is a type of leading tree species used in the timber industry. It is the most important trees of western USA especially in Washington and Oregon. The Giant Sequoia is mainly grown in California. The important tree species here are yellow and loblolly pines. The state of British Colombia is the most important centre of timber industry in Canada. This is the reason why Canada is the largest producer of Newsprint while USA of Pulp and Paper.
Highway of Technology: It is also known as “Highway 128 in eastern Massachusetts” because of the concentration of industrial units manufacturing advanced electronics along the roadways.
Prince Edward Island: It is the smallest island of Canada and the most densely populated province.
Newfoundland: It was the oldest British colony and the last province to join Canada in 1949.

Antarctica Treaty – 1959

The International Geophysical year (1957-58) envisaged the project on diverse geophysical topics and this led to the establishment of “Scientific Committee on Antarctica Research”. It also led to the development of Antarctica Treaty in 1959. India became its member in 1983. The treaty envisaged that Antarctica should be used only for the peaceful purposes and prohibits military activities. It provides continued cooperation, exchange of scientific personnel and mutual inspection of stations.