Man on the Ice Continent - L.I. Dubrovin

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 polar (4) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

polar station- A place of permanent sightings on the coast of a continent or an island in the Arctic Ocean, as well as in Antarctica... Dictionary of Geography

This term has other meanings, see Borneo (meanings). Borneo is a Russian Arctic ice polar station located approximately 100 kilometers from the North Pole. Opened on March 30, 2009 after a week of construction,... ... Wikipedia

BELLINGHAUSEN, the first Russian polar station (since 1968) off the coast of the West. Antarctica (see ANTARCTICA) on the island. King George (Waterloo), in arch. South Shetland Islands (see SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS). Named after F. F. Bellingshausen (see... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

BAIRD, American inland polar station (1957 72), now a seasonal research base on Mary Byrd Earth (see MARY BYRD LAND) in West. Antarctica, at an altitude of 1530 m, 660 km from the coast... encyclopedic Dictionary

- “VOSTOK”, a Russian polar station in the region of the South Geomagnetic Pole (see GEOMAGNETIC POLES) in East Antarctica, at an altitude of 3488 m, 1250 km from the coast. Operates since December 1957. Pole of cold (see POLES OF COLD) of the Earth (approx. 90 °C).… … encyclopedic Dictionary

DAVIS, Australian polar station on the Gulf coast. Prydz (East Antarctica). Operates since 1957 (with a break in 1964-69). Named after the captain of the expedition ship "Aurora" J.C. Davis... encyclopedic Dictionary

SEWA (Syowa), Japanese polar station on the island. East Ongul, near the shores of Queen Maud Land (see QUEEN MAUD LAND) in Vost. Antarctica. Opened in 1957, operating continuously since 1966... encyclopedic Dictionary

SCOTT, New Zealand polar station (since 1957) on the southern coast of the Ross Peninsula in the Ross Sea (see ROSS SEA) (West Antarctica), 2 km west of the American base McMurdo (see MAC MURDO). Named after R. Scott (see SCOTT Robert Falcon) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Ellsworth, a research station on the Filchner Ice Shelf (77° 43 S, 41° 07 W). Opened USA February 11, 1957; in 1959 transferred to Argentina. In 1957–62, meteorological, actinometric, geophysical and... ... were carried out at the station. Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Books

• Polar station "Z", McLean Alistair. In the ice of the harsh Arctic Ocean, the polar station "Z" is in distress. The fire that broke out on its territory killed half of the employees, leaving the survivors without heat, food and light. On the…
• Polar Station Zet, McLean Alistair. In the ice of the harsh Arctic Ocean, the polar station Zet is in distress. The fire that broke out on its territory killed half of the employees, leaving the survivors without heat, food and light. On the…

The activities of polar stations in the Arctic are the basis for monitoring natural processes in the environment: in the ocean and on land. These results are needed not only for direct use in current human activities in the Arctic, but also for accumulating and improving the base of long-term observations, which are necessary for studying natural processes that influence the climate, and therefore the prospects for human life throughout the globe.

Back in the 1870s, it became clear that the study of territories in the Arctic by scattered expeditions could not produce results that would allow conducting fundamental research in the Arctic Ocean zone. In a word, the idea of ​​​​creating some kind of permanently operating polar stations that systematically take readings was in the air.

Considering the Arctic to be the key to many secrets of nature, the Austrian researcher Karl Weiprecht proposed the idea of ​​comprehensive observations carried out year-round with a single set of instruments and at the same time. This idea formed the basis for the creation of polar research stations in the Arctic. True, it took 7 years to implement the idea.

In Soviet times, such stations ensured the operation of the Northern Sea Route, research of the territory and waters of the Soviet Arctic. All this contributed to the development of shipping and aviation in the Arctic.

Similar stations today are increasingly active in Russia, providing systematic research in the fields of meteorology, hydrology, aerology, geophysics, actinometry, and others. Scientists also conduct research related to the problems of preserving the region's biological diversity.

When talking about Russian polar stations in the Arctic, people most often recall their rapid development during the Soviet period. However, Russia began to use them much earlier. During the First International Polar Year (1882-83), two Russian stations participated in research - Malye Karamakuly on Novaya Zemlya and Sagastyr in the Lena delta. In 1913-1915, 4 more polar stations began operating - Yugorsky Shar, o. Vaygach, Marre-Sale station on the Yamal Peninsula and on the island. Dixon.

Polar stations in the Arctic received further development in the USSR, where the development of the North was one of the most important areas of economic and defense activity; new polar Arctic stations appeared during this period almost every year:

• 1920 - at the mouth of the Yenisei,
• 1922 - in the Matochkin Shar Strait,
• 1924 - on the Ob Bay,
• 1928 - on Bolshoi Lyakhovsky Island,
• 1929 - on Franz Josef Land,
• 1930 - Russia declared itself in Severnaya Zemlya,
• 1932 - on Rudolf Island,
• 1933 - in the village of Amderma on the shores of the Kara Sea,
• 1934 - at Cape Sterligov.

In the 30s, Russia was actively developing the eastern region - to the stations operating at that time on Wrangel Island and Cape Shalaurov, many stations were added, both on the mainland (the villages of Uelen, Tiksi) and on the islands (Chetyrehstolbovoy, Medvezhyi, Kotelny, De- Longa and others).

In 1937, the world's first drifting polar platform in Russia, “North Pole-1,” was opened.

By the 40s of the twentieth century, the network consisted of 75 stations, and by 1985 Russia was already operating 110 main stations, not counting drifting, expeditionary ships, etc.
The number of polar stations in the Arctic decreased significantly in the 90s of the last century. Lack of funding and lack of interest in this sector in Russia has led to the closure of up to 50% of stations.

In the 2000s, the situation began to improve, Russia began to strengthen its position, and interest in the Arctic region increased. If in 2006 there were only 52 polar stations in the Arctic, then by 2016 there were already 68, and today it is planned to increase their number to 75, as well as to increase the number of automatic points.

The legendary Russian polar station “Vostok” in Antarctica was created in 1957. It is located in the center of the continent, among ice and snow. Just like 59 years ago, today it is a kind of symbol of the pole of inaccessibility.

The distance from the station to the South Pole is less than to the sea coast, and the population of the station does not exceed 25 people. Low temperatures, an altitude of more than three kilometers above sea level, and complete isolation from the world in winter make it one of the most inconvenient places on Earth for a person to stay. Despite the most difficult conditions, life in the “East” does not stop even at -80 °C. Scientists are studying a unique subglacial lake, which is located at a depth of more than four kilometers.

Location

The Vostok scientific station (Antarctica) is located 1253 km from the South Pole and 1260 km from the sea coast. The ice cover here reaches a thickness of 3,700 m. In winter, it is impossible to reach the station, so polar explorers have to rely only on their own strength. In summer, cargo is delivered here by plane. A sleigh-caterpillar train from the Progress station is also used for the same purpose. Previously, such trains also came from the Mirny station, but today, due to the increase in hummocks along the train route, this has become impossible.

The Vostok polar station is located near the South geomagnetic pole of our planet. This makes it possible to study changes in the Earth's magnetic field. In the summer, there are about forty people at the station - engineers and scientists.

Vostok station: history, climate

This unique scientific center was built in 1957 for research and observation of the Antarctic ecosystem. Since its founding, the Russian Vostok station in Antarctica has never stopped operating, and its activities continue today. Scientists are very interested in the relict subglacial lake. In the mid-nineties, unique drilling of glacial deposits was carried out at the station. First, thermal drills were used, and then electromechanical ones on a load-carrying cable.

Drilling teams from the AARI and the Leningrad Mining Institute jointly discovered the unique underground lake “Vostok”. It is hidden by an ice sheet more than four thousand meters thick. Its dimensions are presumably 250x50 kilometers. Depth more than 1200 meters. Its area exceeds 15.5 thousand square kilometers.

New projects are now being developed to survey this deep lake. “Vostok” is a station in Antarctica that took part in the targeted federal program “World Ocean”. In addition, scientists are studying human life in such extreme conditions.

Climate

The Vostok polar station is famous for its harsh conditions. The climate of this place can be briefly described - there is no colder place on Earth. The absolute minimum temperature recorded here is 89 °C. Average temperatures throughout the year range from -31 °C and - 68 °C, to the absolute maximum, which was recorded back in 1957 - -13 °C. The Polar Night lasts 120 days - from the end of April to the end of August.

The warmest months at the station are December and January. At this time the air temperature is -35.1 °C -35.5 °C. This temperature is comparable to the cold Siberian winter. The coldest month is August. The air temperature drops to -75.3 °C, and sometimes even lower than -88.3 °C. The coldest maximum (daily) is -52 °C; during the entire period of observations in May, the temperature does not rise above -41.6 °C. But low temperatures are not the main climate problem and difficulty for polar explorers.

The Vostok station (Antarctica) is located in an area with almost zero air humidity. There is a lack of oxygen here. The station is located at an altitude of more than three thousand meters above sea level. In such difficult conditions, human acclimatization lasts from a week to two months. This process is usually accompanied by flickering in the eyes, dizziness, nosebleeds, ear pain, a feeling of suffocation, increased blood pressure, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, nausea, severe muscle and joint pain, and weight loss of up to five kilograms.

Scientific activity

“Vostok” is a station in Antarctica, whose specialists have been conducting research on mineral and hydrocarbon raw materials, drinking water reserves, and conducting actinometric, aero-meteorological, glaciological and geophysical observations for more than half a century. In addition, they conduct medical research, study climate change, conduct research on the ozone hole, etc.

Life at the station

“Vostok” is a station in Antarctica where special people live and work. They are endlessly devoted to their work, they are interested in exploring this mysterious continent. This obsession, in the best sense of the word, allows them to endure all the hardships of life and long separation from loved ones. Only the most desperate extreme sports enthusiasts can envy the lives of polar explorers.

Vostok station (Antarctica) has many features. For example, in ordinary life we ​​are surrounded by some insects - butterflies, mosquitoes, midges. There is nothing at the station. There are not even microorganisms. The water here comes from melted snow. It contains neither minerals nor salts, so at first the station workers experience constant thirst.

We have already mentioned that researchers have been drilling a well to the mysterious Lake Vostok for a long time. In 2011, at a depth of 3540 meters, new ice was discovered, which had frozen from below. This is frozen lake water. Polar explorers claim that it is pure and very pleasant to the taste; it can be boiled and made tea.

The building where the polar explorers live is covered in a two-meter layer of snow. There is no daylight inside. There are two exits leading outside - the main one and the spare one. The main exit is a door behind which a fifty-meter tunnel is dug in the snow. The emergency exit is much shorter. It consists of a steep staircase leading to the roof of the station.

The residential building has a mess room, a TV hanging on the wall (although there is no terrestrial television at the station), and a billiard table. When the temperature in this room drops to sub-zero, everyone tries not to go there. But one day, polar explorers discovered a faulty game console in a warehouse. It was repaired, connected to a TV, and the wardroom came to life - now polar explorers gather here. Wearing warm jackets and trousers, felt boots and hats, they come to play fist fights and races.

Polar explorers note that in recent years the Vostok station (Antarctica) has changed in terms of everyday life. A warm residential module, dining rooms, a diesel unit and other buildings necessary for the life of the station made life here quite acceptable.

Fire at Vostok station in Antarctica

On April 12, 1982, Vostok did not contact the mainland. No one could have guessed what happened. A day, according to schedule, the station contacted nine times. When there was no connection even at the second agreed hour, it became clear that something extraordinary had happened. Lack of communication is an emergency in any case. No one could have foreseen the extent of the trouble at the station at that time.

The Vostok station (Antarctica) had a separate room where a diesel-electric station was located. There the fire started on the night of March 12. This was the very beginning of winter. There was a small house attached to the power plant where the mechanics lived. They were awakened at four in the morning by the acrid smell of smoke.

When they went outside, they discovered that the fire was blazing on the roof. A couple of minutes later, all the winterers, hastily dressed, ran out into the cold. The spotlight that illuminated the area went out. The only light was from the fire.

Fighting fire

They began to throw snow at the fire, then they tried to cover it with a tarpaulin to prevent the access of oxygen. But the tarpaulin ignited instantly. The people who climbed onto the roof soon had to jump down. The roof burned completely in thirty minutes.

Fifteen meters from the station there were tanks with diesel fuel. It was impossible to pull them away - they were too heavy. Fortunately, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. It also helped that the diesel fuel was too cold; in the cold it became viscous. It had to get very hot to ignite.

The polar explorers did not immediately notice that there was not one mechanic among them. His remains were found in the ashes. Immediately after the fire, the station premises were left without heat and light, and it was -67 °C outside...

How to survive?

A real disaster has happened. Two diesel generators that supplied electricity to the station and two backup ones were completely out of order. There was no light in the rooms, scientific instruments were de-energized, the batteries and the stove in the galley were cooling down. There was even a problem with water - it was obtained from snow in an electric melter. An old kerosene stove was found in the utility room. She was transferred to one of the residential barracks.

Meanwhile, Moscow was frantically looking for a way out of the current situation. They consulted with pilots and sailors. But none of the options could be implemented in the harsh polar night.

Life after the fire

The polar explorers decided to survive on their own. The courageous guys did not wait for help from the mainland. A radiogram was sent to Moscow: “We will survive until spring.” They understood perfectly well that the icy continent does not forgive mistakes, but it is also merciless towards those who fall into despair.

Wintering continued under force majeure conditions. The polar explorers moved into one tiny living space. Five new stoves were made using gas cylinders. In this room, which was a bedroom, a dining room, and a kitchen, there were also scientific instruments.

The main disadvantage of the new furnaces was soot. It was collected in a bucket a day. After some time, thanks to the ingenuity of the aerologist and the cook, the winterers were able to bake bread. They glued portions of the dough to the walls of the oven and thus obtained completely edible bread.

In addition to hot food and warmth, light was needed. And then these strong people began to make candles, using the existing paraffin and asbestos cord. The “Candle Factory” worked until the end of winter.

Work continues!

Despite the incredible conditions, polar explorers increasingly began to think about continuing their scientific activities. But this was due to a huge shortage of electricity. The only surviving engine satisfied only the needs of radio communications and electric welding. They were simply “afraid to breathe” on him.

However, the meteorologist only interrupted his weather observations during the fire. After the tragedy, he worked as usual. Looking at him, the magnetologist also resumed his work.

The rescue

This is how the winter passed - without sunlight, with a lack of oxygen, with enormous everyday inconveniences. But these people survived, which in itself is a feat. They have not lost their composure and “taste” for work. They held out for 7.5 months, as promised to the Moscow curators, in extreme circumstances.

At the beginning of November, an Il-14 plane arrived at the station, which delivered a new generator and four new winterers from the next, 28th expedition. There was also a doctor among the passengers on the long-awaited plane. According to him, he expected to see demoralized and exhausted people at the station. However, these guys were fine.

And fifteen days later a sleigh and tractor train arrived from Mirny. He delivered building materials and products, as well as everything for the construction of the power plant. After that, time at the station went faster: everyone was trying to make up for the accumulated “debts” on scientific research.

When the shift arrived, the courageous polar explorers were sent by plane to Mirny. The remains of the deceased were also delivered on the same board. He was buried at the Antarctic "Novodevichy" cemetery. The rest of the polar explorers boarded the motor ship "Bashkiria", which took them to Leningrad. Today they are all alive and well, and some of them managed to take part in the Antarctic expedition once again during this time.

Vostok station: visiting rules

Tourists, as well as trained travelers, are not invited to the station - this is exclusively a scientific center. Nevertheless, it is still possible to visit the “East”. To do this, those interested must contact the Institute and convincingly prove why the station needs them. The minimum requirements for applicants are good health and many useful skills.

Half a century ago, on February 22, 1968, one of the first Soviet polar stations was opened - Bellingshausen, which received its name in honor of the discoverer of Antarctica Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen. For its construction, they chose King George Island, part of the South Shetland Islands group. The station employees, like other temporary settlers of Antarctica, were and are engaged in geographical, geological, and biological research of the continent. Antarctica still remains unexplored; new scientific data about it can be obtained every day. In the summer, about five thousand people work on the mainland; no more than a thousand remain for the winter.

In Antarctica, many abandoned buildings from different years are still preserved; today they are visited mainly by tourists.

Permanent stations in Antarctica began to be actively built in the 1940s. Territorial claims to the mainland were then voiced by Germany, Great Britain, Argentina and Chile. In 1954, an Australian station appeared here, in 1956 - a French one (Dumont d'Urville), an American one (McMurdo, one of the largest) and a Soviet one (Mirny).

In 1959, an international treaty on Antarctica was concluded. The document provides for the demilitarization of the continent, its transformation into a nuclear-free zone and its use in the interests of all humanity for the sake of scientific research. The sixth continent also has no institutions of government or citizenship. But it has its own flag and even an Internet domain - .aq.

All Antarctic explorers face harsh local climate conditions. On the mainland, temperatures are usually -20–25 °C, and in 1983, a record temperature of -89.2 °C was recorded in the area of ​​the Russian Vostok station.

About 70% of the fresh water on planet Earth is concentrated in the ice of Antarctica. Despite this, the sixth continent is famous for its unusually dry air. No more than 10 cm of precipitation falls here per year. One of the most interesting places here is the so-called McMurdo Dry Valleys, which occupy an area of ​​about 8,000 square kilometers. These valleys are almost free of ice - the winds blow here so strong. For thousands of years there was no rainfall in this region at all.

There are no time zones in Antarctica. The researchers who are here live according to the time of their states. And wherever you look, there is north.

Curiously, Antarctica once had its own nuclear power plant. It operated for almost 12 years, from 1960 to 1972, and was located at the American McMurdo station. Now energy is produced here using solar panels and wind generators. In addition, fuel is sent to the mainland at every opportunity.

The area of ​​polar stations with all the buildings and equipment is usually small - this is especially noticeable from the air - but inside there is always everything necessary for year-round living, including a canteen, a hospital and a gym.

There are even small shops at large stations visited by tourists. In addition, the southernmost bar in the world is located in Antarctica - at the Akademik Vernadsky station, which belongs to Ukraine.

The true geographic and so-called ceremonial South Pole are two different things. The first one is inconspicuous, while the second one is surrounded by flags and is a favorite place for taking photographs among tourists who get here.

A trip to the South Pole today can easily be called the most expensive trip in the world: a flight from Chile or South Africa will cost several tens of thousands of dollars. Also, several tens of thousands of people sail to the coast on cruise ships every year, but no more than a hundred get deep into the continent and reach the pole itself.

Photo: DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI / Contributor / Getty Images, Probably William Speirs Bruce, 1867-1921 / commons.wikimedia.org Marketa Jirouskova / Getty Images, Delta Images / Getty Images, Martin Harvey / Getty Images, Hubertus Kanus (x2 ) / Getty Images, Johner Images / Getty Images, cunfek / Getty Images, Hubertus Kanus / Getty Images, WanRu Chen / Getty Images, Stefan Christmann / Getty Images, David Merron Photography (in the announcement) / Getty Images, SammyVision / Getty Images, wigwam press / Getty Images, Grant Dixon / Getty Images, DR. DAVID MILLAR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

No country in the world owns this continent, it has no government, president or king. And just 70 years ago, there was a fierce struggle for the possession of these lands among the leading powers of the world. We are talking about the sixth continent - Antarctica, which has gone from a “useless land for humanity” to a “treasure box”.

ANT-ARCTOS

The ancient Greeks were the first to talk about the mysterious southern land. Arctos - this is what they called the icy land known to them in the northern hemisphere and believed that there should be a similar land in the southern hemisphere, opposite the Arctic (literally Ant-Arctos) - Antarctica. This idea was actively supported by scientists of the Middle Ages. Since the 16th century, Ant-Arctos has been placed on maps in the region of the South Pole, and attempts to find this land were made by the Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias, Ferdinand Magellan and the Dutchman Abel Tasman.

COOK'S ATTEMPT

The first serious attempt to find Antarctica was made by James Cook (with the support of the Royal Society of London). The scientific interest of the expedition was related to the study of the passage of Venus through the disk of the Sun, but the main goal was the search for Antarctica. In August 1768, a ship with the telling name “Attempt” (“Endeavor”) set sail for the South.

Cook made three such expeditions, during which the South Sandwich Islands were discovered, but Antarctica remained out of reach. At 71 degrees south latitude, the Endeavor’s path was blocked by impassable ice, and yet there were only 200 kilometers left to the cherished goal! However, for the first time in the history of studying the southern polar latitudes, a person managed to go beyond the Arctic Circle and dispel the myth about the existence of a huge Southern Earth, which medieval scientists mapped around the pole. In a book about his journey, Cook wrote:

"EAST" AND "PEACEFUL"

In the Russian Empire, however, they did not think so. Outstanding navigators of that time - Ivan Kruzenshtern and Vasily Golovin - persistently stated the need for a special expedition to Antarctic waters. It was thanks to the assistance of Ivan Kruzenshtern that a grandiose scientific expedition was organized, led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

On July 16, 1319, the wooden sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” left Kronstadt, and on January 28, 1820 they finally reached the icy continent. At the same time, two more expeditions were looking for Antarctica. The American Nathaniel Palmer and the British subject Edward Bransfield, independently of each other, announced that they had seen the mainland. But Bellingshausen was the first - ten months before Palmer and just three days before Bransfield. The Russian expedition lasted 751 days, 100 thousand kilometers were covered, a new mainland and 29 adjacent islands were discovered, named 8 in honor of the battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 (later renamed by the British). In addition to geographical discoveries, a large number of important astronomical, oceanographic and synoptic observations were made.

CHUR. I AM THE FIRST!

After the expedition of Lazarev and Bellingshausen, a turmoil began around Antarctica, similar, in the apt comparison of one publicist, to “the hysteria of someone who missed the train.”

The British, French, Americans, Norwegians - everyone tried to get to the southern mainland. The American John Davis was the first to set foot on the Antarctic ice in February 1821. Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink became the first to spend a successful winter in Antarctica (1899-1900), using dog sleds to move across glaciers.

In 1911, an Antarctic race broke out between the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott for the right to be called the first person to reach the South Pole. The sad result of the unspoken confrontation: Amundsen won the championship, and Scott's expedition died tragically on the way back from cold, hunger and physical exhaustion.

HOT SPOT

In the 20th century, she also became interested in Antarctica: from 1901 to 1939, she sent as many as three expeditions there, the last two on the eve of two world wars.

Of course, it was not only the Germans who “studied” Antarctica in those days. The Stalinist government had already declared an official protest to the governments by January 1939, and due to the fact that their Antarctic expeditions

"...were engaged in an unjustified division into sectors of lands once discovered by Russian explorers and navigators...".

It is interesting that immediately after the victory of 1945, the Soviet Union won another, no less serious one - for Antarctica. After the end of the war, the US government organized a special squadron of 14 warships to study the nature of the southern continent. In response, the USSR sent the Slava whaling flotilla to Antarctica, which consisted of eight destroyers and submarines. After some time, the Americans urgently retreated and arrived at their native shores with great material and human losses, which is now almost never mentioned.

TREASURE BOX

The unofficial beginning of research activities in Antarctica is considered to be the Borchgrevnik expedition, which overwintered in 1899 at Cape Ader.

4 years later, the Argentine scientific station “Orcadas” was created on Lori Island, which has been operating without interruption to this day. The Australian station appeared a little later, in 1911, after which scientific activity on the mainland subsided. Immediately after the end of World War II, the United States declared Antarctica a “treasure box,” and research activity resumed on a new scale. In 1956, the first Soviet observatory and research base was built - the village of Mirny. And a year later, the unique research station “Vostok-1” appeared - the only inland Antarctic research station currently used by Russia. Nowadays, there are more than 70 scientific stations on the mainland, but only a little more than forty operate all year round.

PLACE OF PEACE AND SCIENCE

After the International Geophysical Year (1957-1959), 65 countries sent research expeditions to the Antarctic lands. The ice continent itself was declared a place of peace and science. By coincidence, the convention on a “universal” Antarctica came into force in 1961, when huge reserves of uranium (and also coal, gold, silver, lead, iron) were officially announced in the bowels of Antarctica.

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent:
its area is about 14,107,000 km 2,
of which are shelf
glaciers - 930,000 km 2,
islands - 75,500 km 2.

Antarctica is divided into two parts - western and eastern. Western (6,475,000) includes an archipelago of mountain islands. Eastern (7,700,000 km2) is a high plateau covered with ice. Both parts of the continent are separated by a mountain range.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANTARCTICA

- the least explored continent;

- the only continent without time zones: almost doubles in size in winter when ice covers the surrounding seas;

- is not a state, but has an unofficial currency - the Antarctic dollar. In 1996-2001 it was issued by the Antarctic Overseas Bank, founded by a group of enthusiasts. 1,2,5,10,20,50 and 100 dollars could be easily exchanged for American currency at face value, the proceeds were used to finance scientific research in Antarctica;

- the driest place on Earth: the average rainfall here is 10 cm per year.

In Antarctica there are:

— more than 140 subglacial lakes, the largest of them is Lake Vostok;

— points of the strongest and longest wind and the most powerful solar radiation;

- volcanoes - the most active of them is Erebus;

— more than 70 scientific stations, of which more than 40 are year-round;

- the cleanest sea in the world is the Weddell Sea: it is transparent, almost like distilled water;

- dry valleys that have not seen rain or snow for 2 million years.

In Antarctica:

— at the Russian Vostok station the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded - minus 89.2 °C;

— the clearest skies for space exploration;

— minus 60-75 °C in winter (June, July, August); minus 30-50 °C in summer (December, January, February);

— it’s not that cold on the coast: in winter from -8 to -35 °C, in summer - from 0 to +5 °C;

— over the years of research, about 200 thousand people visited;

— in 2007, the first passenger plane landed;

— you can find two flowering plants - the Quito colobanth (a distant relative of the carnation) and the Antarctic meadowsweet (from the Bluegrass family);

— about 1,000 people live in winter, from 4,000 in summer;

- in 1978, the first person was born - Argentinean Emilio Marcos Palma;

— women researchers also work, most often in the summer months. An all-female wintering was organized only once - in 1990-1991, at the German Antarctic station "Georg von Mayer". Six months after it began, management sent male specialists to the station to bring the infrastructure facilities into normal technical condition.

THREE ANTARCTICA

This is what Antarctica looks like without its ice shell. True, today you can see this only with the help of geolocation and your own imagination.

But 150 million years ago, when the current “ice” was just heading towards the South Pole and was part of the supercontinent Gondwana, there were subtropics here.

	ANTARCTICA 500 MILLION YEARS AGO. The Goidvana is formed from separate geological blocks, the East Antarctic Platform meets the Pacific Mobile Belt (it includes the modern Andes, Cordilleras, island arcs of the Pacific Ocean, including the Antarctic Peninsula), and the Transantarctic Mountains arise at their junction.
	ANTARCTICA 200-80 MILLION YEARS AGO. Africa is consistently leaving Antarctica.
	ANTARCTICA 35 MILLION YEARS AGO. Moves away, a cold southern circular current appears, and ice covers eastern Antarctica
	ANTARCTICA 14 MILLION YEARS AGO. South America is the last to leave; as a memory of it, the Antarctic Andes remain near the icy continent - part of a once single mountain range, the Drake Passage is formed. ice covers West Antarctica,

Not everything is ice, but a glacier. The Antarctic ice sheet is a multi-layered cake. The upper 100-150 meters are snow and firn (old grainy snow). Deeper the real ice begins. But it also differs in structure at different depths: from millimeter-sized crystals in the upper layers to huge two-meter single crystals at the base of the glacier.

The glacier is moving. Under its own pressure, it flows from the central regions where glaciation occurs to the periphery of the continent. This is how floating ice shelves are formed, from which icebergs break off. The largest ice shelves in Antarctica (and in the world) are the Ross Glacier and the Weddell Glacier, which completely cover the seas of the same name.

INTERESTING FACTS

— The volume of the Antarctic glacier is 30 million km 3 . This is 61% of all fresh water on Earth. If it melts, sea levels will rise by 70 meters.

- An ice sheet is a glacier with an area of ​​more than 50,000 km 2 and a thickness of more than 1000 m. The area of ​​the Antarctic ice sheet is 14 million km 2, and the thickness ranges from 1.1 km in West Antarctica to 4.8 km in East - on the Schmidt Plain .

— The glacier covers 98% of the continent, with the exception of a few open areas in the Transantarctic Mountains. Its topography does not coincide with the topography of the land below it.