Portal:Antarctica

Wikipedia portals: Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Natural sciences People Philosophy Religion Society Technology edit   Antarctica Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by ocean all around i.e. the Southern Ocean. The nearest land mass is South America at 965 km. Its area is close to 14 Million sq km, which is approximately 58 times the size of UK or 1.4 times the size USA. of It is the fifth largest continent after Asia, Africa, North America and South America. On average, Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. The minimum recorded surface temperature on the planet i.e. -89.2C was made at the Russian research Vostok in Antarctica on 21st July 1983. 98 % of the total area of Antarctica is covered by ice.The mean thickness of the ice sheet is 1829m and the maximum thickness has been found out to be 4776m. While most of the ice in East Antarctica is on bed rock, in West Antarctica a majority of it floats on water. Due to accumulation of ice over the past millions of years, the continent has got depressed by about 600 m on average. Since there is little precipitation, except at the coasts, the interior of the continent is technically the largest desert in the world. There are no permanent human residents and there is no evidence of any existing or pre-historic indigenous population. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including mosses and lichen, and several species of penguin, ice seal and the Antarctic fur seal. edit   Selected article The British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, generally known as the Discovery Expedition, was an official British exploration mission to the Antarctic regions. The main objectives of the expedition were summarised in the joint committee's "Instructions to the Commander" in the following terms: "to determine, as far as possible, the nature, condition and extent of that portion of the south polar lands which is included in the scope of your expedition", and "to make a magnetic survey in the southern regions to the south of the 40th parallel and to carry out meteorological, oceanographic, geological, biological and physical investigations and researches". The expedition launched the Antarctic careers of many who would become leading figures in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott (who led the expedition), Ernest Shackleton, Edward Wilson, Frank Wild, Tom Crean, and William Lashly. edit   Selected picture An iceberg with a keyhole window melted into its side (in the left of the picture) floats in the sea near the Antarctic Peninsula, September 2002. The blue color indicates its glacial origins. edit   Selected panorama Tabletop icebergs edit   WikiProjects WikiProject Antarctica edit   Things to do Research, review, and add more articles to the Selected Articles section from Category:Antarctica. Improve the completeness and style of the portal Intro subpage. Upload new appropriately-licensed, Antarctica-related pictures and other media. We are looking for more high-quality Selected Articles on Antarctic plants and animals and on the exploration of the continent. We need active peer review and editorial help in the drive to improve Portal:Antarctica to Featured Portal status! Be bold with the graphic design of the portal. New backgrounds, new borders, new anything and everything. edit   In the news Wikinews Antarctica portal August 3: Russian geographer Andrey Kapitsa dies aged 80 January 2: Remains of 1912 expedition plane found in Antarctica April 5: Massive ice shelf expected to break away from Antarctica January 10: Canadian trio claim South Pole record for trans-Antarctic trip December 6: Passengers rescued from stranded Antarctic cruise ship December 5: Wikinews Shorts: December 5, 2008 March 7: Protester says Japanese whalers shot him December 25: No injuries after Antarctica research station support plane crashes November 28: NASA unveils detailed map of Antarctica November 23: Canadian cruise ship sinking in Antarctic November 23: MS Explorer cruise ship passengers are safe November 6: Rare earthquake strikes Antarctica May 18: 700 new forms of life discovered in Antarctic sea June 7: Researchers discover giant asteroid impact crater in Antarctica December 21: Greenpeace activists clash with Japanese whaling fleet in Southern Ocean November 23: Japan to hunt 950 whales for "scientific research" July 12: Long Island-sized iceberg to ram Antarctic coast edit   Did you know? ... that Limacina antarctica (pictured) is a keystone species in Antarctic open seas? ... that Carl Anton Larsen was the first person to ski in Antarctica on the Larsen Ice Shelf, which was named after him. ... that the lowest temperature ever recorded in nature on Earth was an astounding −89.2°C (−128.6°F), recorded on July 21, 1983, at Vostok Station? ... that Roald Amundsen named his expedition's South Pole camp Polheim, which means "Home on the Pole" in Norwegian. ... that Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen was the first person ever born in Antarctica, on October 8, 1913. ... that NASA scientists have described Lake Untersee (pictured) in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, as one of the most unusual lakes on Earth with a pH like that of strong Clorox? ... that fish have been sighted in Lake Burton, Antarctica? edit   Categories Airports in Antarctica • Antarctic territorial claims • Antarctica agreements • Antarctica geography stubs • British Antarctic Territory • Bulgaria in Antarctica • Churches in Antarctica • Exploration of Antarctica • Explorers of Antarctica • Fauna of Antarctica • Flora of Antarctica • Geography of Antarctica • Glaciers of Antarctica • Headlands of Antarctica • History of Antarctica • Ice shelves • Indian Antarctic Program • Maps of Antarctica • Maps of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands • Natural history of Antarctica • New Zealand and the Antarctic • Norwegian Antarctic Territory • Old maps of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands • Operation Deep Freeze • Outposts of Antarctica • People of Antarctica • Ross Dependency • South African National Antarctic Programme • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands • South Shetland Islands • Transport in Antarctica edit   Topics History: List of Antarctic expeditions • History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands • List of research stations in Antarctica Geography: Geology of Antarctica • Climate of Antarctica • Antarctica ecozone • Antarctic Peninsula • Eastern Antarctica • List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands • Extreme points of the Antarctic • McMurdo Sound • Ross Sea • Weddell Sea Economy: Transport: McMurdo Station Geopolitics: Argentine Antarctic Geopolitics • Antarctic Treaty Secretariat • Brazil Antarctic Geopolitics • Chile Antarctic Geopolitics • Flags of Antarctica Demographics: Colonization of Antarctica • Religion in Antarctica edit   Related portals edit   Wikimedia What are portals? List of portals Featured portals