10 interesting facts about Antarctica

What do we all know about Antarctica from the school curriculum? Not so much:

• Antarctica is the fifth largest continent on Earth;
• This is, in fact, a huge icy desert, where on July 21, 1983 (at the Soviet Vostok station) the lowest temperature on our planet in the entire history of weather observations was recorded – minus 89,2º C;
• Antarctica is the “owner” of 70% of the world’s fresh water reserves, but at the same time it is the driest place (in some areas of this continent, precipitation last fell more than 2 million years ago!);
• There are active volcanoes in Antarctica, the largest of which is Erebus;
• The word “Antarctica” means “opposite to the Arctic”;
• This continent was discovered on January 28, 1820 by the future Russian admirals F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev, who sailed here with a round-the-world expedition on the sloops Vostok and Mirny (until that moment, Antarctica was considered a group of separate islands), but they never landed on land;
• The first person to set foot on the land of Antarctica (January 24, 1895) was a member of the Norwegian expedition Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink;
• And the first person to reach the South Pole was Roald Amundsen, also a Norwegian (in December 1911). And he was only a month ahead of the expedition of the Englishman Robert Scott, who died on the way back to the coast, etc.

In fact, Antarctica is full of “interesting things.” And here are the 10 most interesting facts about this amazing continent.

10 It is forbidden to import animals and plants to the mainland

Due to the constant terrible frost (on average, from -30 to -50º C), Antarctica, of course, cannot boast of a variety of flora and fauna. Yes, there are 2 types of flowers here (antarctic meadow grass and colobanthus kito), order 300 species of mosses and lichens, but that’s probably all: bushes and trees definitely don’t grow here.

Well, from the representatives of the animal world in these endless expanses of ice, you can only find penguins (there are 6 species of them here), and fur seals. (And yes, by the way, polar bears DO NOT live in Antarctica. Hmm … For some, this will be a discovery).

So, in order not to harm these few living organisms, since 1994 It is strictly forbidden to import any animals or plants into Antarctica. So the days of sled dogs here are forever in the past. And even Christmas trees at polar stations are always artificial.

9. Ice is “colored” by impurities and freezing conditions

We are used to seeing in the photo of Antarctica on the Internet either completely white or pleasantly blue transparent ice. In fact, ice of the most seemingly unimaginable colors and shades is found here. It all depends on how and where it was formed.

For example, fresh sea ​​ice has a greenish or blue tint; old packed ice floes, from which all the air has been squeezed out, are often deep blue; in areas where there are active volcanoes, it is not uncommon to see black or even striped ice; well, plankton is able to give it a yellow, pink or bright red color.

By the way, in Antarctica there is a so-called Bloody Falls. Its water has a red-brown color due to the fact that many iron oxides and a huge amount of salt are dissolved in it.

8. Off the coast there are fish with “antifreeze” instead of blood

Every living being is forced to adapt to the environment in which he happened to live. For example, penguins or seals do not freeze in Antarctica because they have a thick layer of subcutaneous fat.

Pisces have to get out of the situation differently. So, in the Antarctic waters there are the only fish on our planet (outwardly a little similar to pike), which have neither red blood cells nor hemoglobin in their blood.

This “blood” is practically colorless and transparent (therefore, the white-blooded fish themselves are colorless), but it contains some kind of substance that allows you to live peacefully in icy water. And instead of scales, white-blooded fish have mucus, which also helps to protect them from freezing.

7. Marathons have been held since 1995

“Oh sport, you are the world!” – the full veracity of this well-known phrase can be fully felt when you decide to take part in a marathon, half marathon or ultramarathon, taking place not just anywhere, but in Antarctica!

Yes, yes, every year several dozen athletes run 42 km across the icy desert at an average temperature of -20-25º C (well, this is very comfortable weather for Antarctica). The first such marathon took place back in 1995 near McMurdo station., but now they are organized at other stations.

Not only is this a serious test in itself for an ordinary person (even if he is an “experienced” athlete), but it also costs a lot of money – to participate in the Antarctic marathon, you will have to pay 15 thousand euros (this, of course, includes the trip to Antarctica itself, and accommodation, etc.).

6. Amundsen-Scott station plays The Shining and The Thing every year

If for some Eskimo “snow and snow all around” is a completely familiar and not terrible phenomenon, then for many Europeans and Americans this is “terrible horror”.

Hence the quite numerous films about how a person finds himself in a snow or ice captivity, which is why he slowly (or, conversely, too quickly) goes crazy. And if, at the same time, somewhere, behind the ice hummocks, something terrible and bringing death lurked (remember the very recent TV series “Terror”), then the will to resist the inevitable simply disappears every minute.

On the other hand, it’s nice to tickle your nerves sometimes. And apparently, that is why for 62 years in a row the employees of the Amundsen-Scott polar station must be reviewed every winter The Shining (with the inimitable Jack Nicholson) and all three versions of The Thing (1951, 1982 and 2011).

5. Metallica is the first band to play on every continent, including Antarctica

The guys from the band Metallica have already proved a long time ago that they are cool. But in 2013, Hatfield & Co outdid themselves – Metallica became the first band to perform ON ALL continents (Moreover, they did it in one year!).

Their session in Antarctica took place in a specially installed pavilion-dome near the Carlini Station (Argentina) on King George Island.

In order not to disturb the surrounding fauna, the musicians did not use amplifiers, and therefore the audience listened to them with headphones. By the way, about 120 people attended the concert: scientists from the station, as well as the winners of a special competition from Coca-Cola.

However, after all, the very first band to organize a concert in Antarctica was not Metallica, but the British band Nunatak (in 2007).

4. There are no time zones, but at the same time, there are 24 of them

The situation with time in Antarctica is truly unique: since the continent is located around the South Pole, the boundaries of all time zones converge on it at one point.

So, on the one hand, purely technically, it is located immediately in 24 time zones, on the other hand, there is no single time at all. How then do polar explorers working at Antarctic stations get out of this situation?

And like this: either they accept the time of their home country, or they coordinate it with employees of companies that deliver food, equipment and other necessary things to them.

3. You won’t get a job on the mainland unless you have your wisdom teeth and appendix removed.

Today in Antarctica there are 89 polar stations (of which 48 are permanent and 41 are seasonal). From 1 to 5 thousand people work there at the same time (in the warmer season this number is maximum, but in the very cold it, of course, decreases significantly).

So, before these people came to Antarctica as station employees, they had to remove wisdom teeth and appendix. What for? After all, there are still doctors. Yes, but in conditions of constant hellish cold, even the most experienced surgeon will not be able to perform even the simplest operation. Though…

In 1961, there was a case when the doctor Leonid Rogozov managed to remove his own appendicitis (without anesthesia and watching the process in the mirror!), Because there was simply no other doctor nearby.

2. There is a “civilian” city belonging to Chile

In fact, no one lives permanently in Antarctica, there are only temporary “inhabitants” here – scientists from stations in different countries working here in shifts. And, I must say, most often they live together, despite the political conflicts unfolding on the “mainland”.

There were even several marriages on the icy continent (one couple from neighboring stations met through the Tinder app). But, in addition to scientific stations, there are also a real city that belongs to Chile. It is called Villa Las Estrellas and is located near McMurdo station.

So, you can live in it with almost all the amenities: there is a school for 15 students, a hospital, a post office, a church and even an ATM (as well as the Internet, television, mobile communications).

By the way, you are unlikely to be aware that at the moment, 11 children were born in Antarctica, and the first of them was the Argentinean Emilio Marcos Palma (January 7, 1978).

1. You don’t need a visa to travel

Since Antarctica, quite officially, is not the territory of any country in the world (according to the special convention of 1961), a visa is not needed to travel there.

And if until 1980 it was possible to get to the icy continent only as part of a scientific expedition, now it is visited up to 40 thousand tourists per year.

This pleasure is not cheap (from 10 thousand dollars for a ticket), but there are still many who want to. And, by the way, despite the fact that this icy continent does not have a single government, it still has its own flag (a white silhouette of the continent on a bright blue background), a telephone code (+682), an Internet domain (.aq) and even the currency (Antarctic dollar) issued by the Antarctic Financial Authority (unofficially, of course).