Ever since New Zealand was finally discovered in about 1300 CE – a mere47,000 years afterits larger neighborAustralia – man have been the ultimate worldwide species . well-to-do , or at least able to survive , in every habitat from the Arctic circle to the Sahara Desert , there ’s not a continent on Earth that has n’t been run over by our species .
Except one .
Nobody owns it (but plenty of people claim to)
Depending on who you require , Antarctica is “ owned ” by anything from an outside group of several dozen countries , tonobody at all .
If that makes it voice like a lawless free - for - all , it could n’t be further from the truth . “ The [ Antarctic ] Treaty , which dates from 1959 , governs all activities in Antarctica , ” said Henry Burgess , then the Deputy Head of the Polar Regions Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office , in a2015 interviewwith the Royal Geographical Society .
“ It puts in place a unique and globally authoritative system of rules of international establishment and establishes the continent as a region entirely for peace and skill , ” Burgess continued . “ It also nix military activity and sets away all territorial claim . ”
1570 map by Abraham Ortelius depicting “Terra Australis Nondum Cognita (The southern land yet not known)” as a large continent on the bottom of the map.Image credit: Abraham Ortelius, public domain, viaWikimedia Commons
That say , there ’s quite a few body politic who ’d like us tothinkthey own it .
“ Only seven countries have ever formally claimed parts of Antarctica : the United Kingdom , Argentina , Australia , Chile , France , New Zealand and Norway , ” explained Burgess . “ During the 1940s and 1950s the competing claim between the UK , Chile and Argentina in the Antarctic Peninsula cause external tension . ”
see at a political function of Antarctica , and you ’ll soon see the solution of this “ tenseness ” : the top - right field quadrant in exceptional is a mess of overlap borders between the three Carry Amelia Moore Nation . So , whose call takes precedency ?
Well , the other four country in the south-polar club be given to favor the UK ’s claims – they ’re “ sort of a golf club within a club of reciprocal realization of territorial claims , ” Adrian Howkins , now a Reader in Environmental chronicle at the University of Bristol , toldAtlas Obscura .
But internationally , the view is somewhat simpler , he sum : “ I reckon fairly much every other country in the world does n’t recognize any of these call . ”
It’s the biggest, driest, windiest, and coldest desert in the world
When youthink of a desert , chance are the first discussion that comes to mind is n’t “ crank ” . But the defining characteristic of a desert is n’t sand , or heating system – it’slack of precipitation .
“ While Antarctica does have a set of pee in the form of ice , its cold temperature keep the trash from turning into fluid water supply even in the summer,”explainedChristopher S. Baird , source ofThe Top 50 Science Questions with Surprising Answersand Associate Professor of Physics at West Texas A&M University . “ The insensate temperature also freeze out the urine evaporation out of the melodic line . The destruction event is that Antarctica is not only a desert , it is the driest continent in the human beings . ”
“ heavy ” and “ cold ” form of speak for themselves – at around 13.7 million straight kilometers , or 1.4 USAs , Antarctica is the worldly concern ’s fifth largest continent on its own , and it can see temperature as low-toned as -80 ° C ( -112 ° F ) . In fact , the lowest temperature ever see on Earth , a chilly -89.2 ° C ( -128.6 ° F ) , was recorded at Vostok post in 1983 .
But that ’s not the only uttermost weather the continent sees . “ Antarctica ’s environment has special conditions that make it the airy continent on Earth , ” excuse theAustralian Antarctic Program .
“ Antarctica is normally surrounded by a belt of low pressure which contains multiple low centers . This is cry the ‘ circumpolar trough ’ , ” it notes . “ But the interior of the continent is dominated by gamey pressure . ”
combine , these conditions make what are known as “ katabatic malarkey ” – expanse of very insensate , obtuse air that spring at the top of the Antarctic ice mainsheet and are pull downhill by gravity . The gentle wind speed up as it radiates outwards towards the glide , where miserable - pressure climate organisation can increase their strength further .
By the end of the process , “ result wind speeds can exceed 100 klick / enthalpy [ 62 mph ] for days at a time , ” the Program explain . “ hint gusts well over 200 kilometer / total heat [ 124 miles per hour ] have been measured . ”
It’s weirdly similar to Mars, and it can make you go insane
For investigator living in Antarctica , the stock-still continent can sometimes feel like a different globe .
Literally : “ I have occur to call [ Antarctica ] ‘ White Mars ’ , ” Alexander Kumar , a enquiry MD ground at the Concordia research post in the heart of Antarctica for the European Space Agency , told the BBCin 2012 .
“ experience here is the closest anyone can do to living on the surface of another planet , ” he said .
And , as you may have gathered from his job title , that has made the rod very interesting to various space exploration agencies – particularly those hoping to one day sendhumans to Mars . There ’s a yoke of reasons for that : firstly , there ’s the physical look – “ the dry valleys of Antarctica are a prime goal , ” points out theAmerican Museum of Natural History , “ because , with less than an inch of hastiness a year and an mediocre temperature of -20[ ° F , -29 ° C ] , they are the most Mars - like places on Earth ” – and second , there ’s the crushingpsychological tortureof it all .
“ Our crew has been completely isolated since February . We are more disjunct from civilization than the astronauts subsist onboard the International Space Station . It is impossible for us to leave the substructure until mid - November , ” Kumar sound out .
“ Such closing off is a personal journey and challenge , ” he continue . “ I liken overwinter to dredging the sea ’s depths of your mind . You never know what you will find . ”
Crews in the enquiry post can have extreme psychological distress , Kumar explained , with his colleague reporting feel “ numb ” and “ not genuine ” . They experience physiological alteration , with pot becoming “ blunted ” and chemical reaction and cognition times slowing markedly . They recede their circadian rhythm method of birth control ; they experience memory problems and fall behind their ability to reduce . Throughout the entire mission , Kumar state , “ we only talk about and look forrard to one day of the month – the reaching of the first plane , our first liaison with the outside world , expected in November . ”
“ If you let your mind wander during the south-polar winter to dwell upon [ … ] negativity , I have seen it can be very unsafe and spiral out of your control , ” he contribute .
“ There is no release – you are in a prison of your own mind here . ”
It’s insanely difficult to map
Speaking of Mars : you acknowledge , until super recently , we literally hadbetter maps of the Red Planetthan we did of Antarctica . In fact , expect at any map including the southern polar continent from before the mid - 80 – and yes , that ’s barely four decades ago ; our sympathy of Antarctica is technically a Millennial – and you’re able to moderately much guarantee it wo n’t be exact .
“ It was n’t until 1983 that the first broadly speaking accurate single-valued function of Antarctica was produced,”explainedAdrian Fox of the British Antarctic Survey ’s Mapping and Geographic Information Centre , aka MAGIC . “ That was the first fourth dimension a map institute together enough information for us to be pretty sure that we ’d got all the major features in the correct places . ”
You might say that ’s not surprising – after all , as Fox pointed out , “ the reasons why so much of the mellow , driest , cold and windiest continent on Earth remain so poorly mapped are obvious . ” Look atthis mapfrom 1957 , for deterrent example , and you’re able to see the continent outlined in a relatively thin band of yellow – it ’s not a ornamental choice , but an indication of the only areas “ explore or ascertain by gentleman’s gentleman ” by that point .
Plus , logistically , mapping Antarctica is kind of a non - starter : the place ishuge , almost completely empty , and , thanks to the Antarctic Treaty , basically useless from a colonization or resource extraction view . To put it another elbow room : mapping the continent would be a whole lot of work for not much virtual gain .
“ But hold off ! ” we hear you cry . “ Is n’t the whole point of science that we do these things anyway ? For the virginal love of the game ? ” And the answer is , well , yes – but even then , there ’s been onemassivereason why we never obtain around to mathematical function Antarctica : the ice .
Now , admittedly , if you ’re setting out to do anything regarding Antarctica , some amount of frozen pee is to be expected – but what does n’t often number across to those of us used to more temperate climes is justhow icythe South Pole can get . Consider , for example , the Gamburtsev Mountains , an Antarctic range interchangeable in sizing to the Alps and completely hidden under two to threekilometersof frosting ( about 1.5 miles ) .
“ Most of the Earth ’s state surface has been mapped in great detail and we have an all-encompassing understanding of stack heights , valley depth and coastlines,”notedBecky Sanderson , a PhD educatee in the University of Newcastle ’s Department of Geography . “ Antarctic[a ] ’s bed topography is a notable exception to this . ”
It would take the ontogeny of satellite imagery , RADAR , and echo sounding before we could get a real thought ofwhat ’s endure onat the satellite ’s southerly pole – and even now , it ’s unambiguously badly - sympathize among the Continent . Still , that ’s a big stone’s throw up from where we used to be – because …
It was either discovered a lot more recently than you think… or a lot less
You might think it makes sentience that masses tend not to experience in Antarctica – after all , we ’ve already beenpretty clearthat it ’s not the most liveable place on the major planet . But to just level out that we did n’t colonize the continent is to do its inhospitableness a ill turn , candidly : in fact , it ’s so outback and inaccessible that wedidn’t even know for sure that it existeduntil 1820 .
So , who discovered the massive expanse of frappe and land at the bottom of the planet ? It depends who you ask : “ The first person to really see the Antarctic mainland has been debated , ” notesRoyal Museums Greenwich .
“ In the last week of January [ 1820 ] , Thaddeus von Bellingshausen describe seeing ‘ an ice shore of utmost meridian ’ during a Russian expedition to the Antarctic , ” it explains ; a mere three days later , “ Royal Navy officer Edward Bransfield report seeing ' high mountains , covered with snowfall ' during a British mapping expedition . ”
That multitude had n’t fall upon it before this amazingly previous point – for context , we had already discovered Uranus , radioactive decline , and bike by the clock time we confirm the existence of Antarctica – was n’t for want of try . People had long conjecture that there must be some Brobdingnagian continent at the bottom of the world ; they even made allowances for it on mathematical function , which is why you could sometimes see what clearly attend like an Antarctica on pre - modern maps .
But after centuries of searching for this hidden counterbalance to the North Pole – and yes , that was genuinely the logic people were using ; they were correct , but not reallycorrect – people had just about yield up by the late eighteenth century .
“ I firmly believe that there is a tract of land near the Pole , which is the Source of most of the ice rink which is spread over this vast Southern Ocean , ” wroteCaptain James Cook , the explorer most celebrated for his voyage throughout the South Pacific , after three years ’ unsuccessful searching for the purpose land mass .
But , he continued , “ the endangerment one runs in search a coast in these unknown and Icy Seas , is so very great , that I can be bold to say , that no humans will ever venture farther than I have done and that the solid ground which may lie in to the South will never be explored . ”
Cook was indeed being bluff . Not only would he be show ill-timed a mere 50 years later – but chance are , Polynesian explorers pound him by more than a millennium .
“ Polynesian narration of voyaging between the island let in voyaging into south-polar waters by Hui Te Rangiora ( also known as Ūi Te Rangiora ) and his gang on the vas Te Ivi o Atea , likely in the former seventh hundred , ” note a2021 paperfrom researcher in New Zealand that looked at the unwritten histories and artwork of autochthonic community . “ In some story , Hui Te Rangiora and his crew continued [ … ] a long way to the south . In so doing , they were likely the first humankind to go under eyes on Antarctic waters and perhaps the continent . ”
Which , after all that , might just answer who should own Antarctica . finder keepers and all that – congratulations , New Zealand : we guess it ’s yours .
