Antarctica is a continent surrounding the South Pole of the Earth, officially discovered in January 1820, although it is claimed the first discovery by the English Gabriel de Castilla in January 1603 during an expedition in search of Terra Australis Incognita. It is the coldest place on Earth and is almost entirely covered by ice, with the largest reserves of fresh water on the planet.
GEOGRAPHICAL
Antarctica is one of the eight regions or ecozones biogeographical Earth.
With an area of \u200b\u200b13 million km ², which will add 1.5 million square miles of barrier is the fifth largest continent of the world by extension. It consists of two unequal parts, separated by the chain of almost 3200 km long Transantarctic Mountains across the continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Barrier
:
East Antarctica, a plateau of about 10 million km ² (ancient kingdom Australia )
Antarctica consists of the western Antarctic Peninsula, which forms an extension of the Andes.
Lelevazione likely to be greater at the Mount Vinson (5,140 m above sea level, although sometimes is indicated altitude of 4,897 m) located in the Massif Vinson, an offshoot of the Transantarctic Mountains and major depression is the Bentley subglacial trench located in the eastern part of the continent.
The ice cap covering Antarctica, almost in its entirety (59,000 km ²), sometimes exceeding 4,500 m thick, with a volume of about 30 million km ^ 3 is 90% of the reserve's freshwater globe. It is estimated that some icebergs can reach and exceed the size of Corsica. The continent is surrounded by a large area of \u200b\u200bice, the polar ice (pack), which comprises one of the most interesting ecosystems on the planet and is the source of food for whales, penguins, fish, seals and many birds.
CLIMATE, FLORA AND FAUNA
With an area of \u200b\u200b13 million km ², which will add 1.5 million square miles of barrier is the fifth largest continent of the world by extension. It consists of two unequal parts, separated by the chain of almost 3200 km long Transantarctic Mountains across the continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Barrier
: East Antarctica, a plateau of about 10 million km ² (ancient kingdom Australia )
Antarctica consists of the western Antarctic Peninsula, which forms an extension of the Andes.
Lelevazione likely to be greater at the Mount Vinson (5,140 m above sea level, although sometimes is indicated altitude of 4,897 m) located in the Massif Vinson, an offshoot of the Transantarctic Mountains and major depression is the Bentley subglacial trench located in the eastern part of the continent.
The ice cap covering Antarctica, almost in its entirety (59,000 km ²), sometimes exceeding 4,500 m thick, with a volume of about 30 million km ^ 3 is 90% of the reserve's freshwater globe. It is estimated that some icebergs can reach and exceed the size of Corsica. The continent is surrounded by a large area of \u200b\u200bice, the polar ice (pack), which comprises one of the most interesting ecosystems on the planet and is the source of food for whales, penguins, fish, seals and many birds.
CLIMATE, FLORA AND FAUNA
Among the various classifications proposed for the Antarctic climate remains the most valid one developed by Paul C. Dalrymple in 1966: it, while leaving the coast and the Antarctic Peninsula, divides the interior of the continent into four zones, based on strict standards, which relate the average temperatures and extreme, the average speed and frequency of wind The measure of annual precipitation and depth of Windchill. Dalrymple, therefore, Rating:
cold transition area (average annual temperature of -25 ° C to -40 ° C) cold katabatic
Area (average annual temperature of -30 ° C -40 ° C) Area
inner cold (annual mean temperature from -40 ° C to -50 ° C)
A central cold (average temperature below -50 ° C)
should be noted that, as regards' thermal aspect, there is a clear correlation between the altitude, latitude and distance from the sea (continentality). The Antarctic Plateau is a plateau of ice thickness in the east, may exceed 4,000 meters in altitude, and it is here that you realize the lowest temperatures of the world. The continuous meteorological observations on the Antarctic Plateau began with the International Geophysical Year, and today are carried out through two main sources of data acquisition: the permanent bases, managed by technical staff of scientific resident, and the AWS (Automatic Weather Stations), designed by the Wisconsin University and implanted since the early eighties.
Currently there are three permanent bases in the Antarctic Plateau: Amundsen-Scott (American), Vostok II (Russian) and Concordia (Italian French). The first, located at the geographic South Pole, according to the classification of Dalrymple falls within the interior cold: the average annual temperature (1957-2006) is -49.5 ° C. At Vostok, the cold central core, the annual average (1958-2006, with interruptions) is placed instead at -55.3 ° C.
Characteristic of Antarctic climate is the so-called Kernlose winter, a dramatic cooling that is achieved with the disappearance of the sun below the horizon and remains almost constant throughout the semester: a dynamic that is not found in the northern hemisphere, except perhaps in some of the internal areas of Greenland. So the classical seasonally, but maintained for the sake of comparison, in reality it makes little sense:
Area interior cold and cold in the core, which encompass about half of the continental surface, one can speak of a two-month summer ( December and January), preceded and followed by two seasons of transition (second half of October and November, February and first half of March), the remaining seven months (mid-March to mid- October) winter.
During the summer the temperature rarely exceeds 20 ° C. The warmest month (December) at Amundsen-Scott recorded a mean of -28.0 ° C at Vostok to -31.9 ° C. The collapse temperature, which begins with the descent of the sun on the horizon, means that already in April the average of Amundsen-Scott is of -57.3 ° C, Vostok to -64.8 ° C in July, the average Amundsen-Scott is -60.1 ° C in August to Vostok to -68.0 ° C. This means that, during any period of winter, you can touch the extremes: the Amundsen-Scott to record stands at -82.8 ° C (23 June 1982), Vostok to -89.2 ° C ( July 21, 1983), the latter is the lowest temperature recorded on Earth.
Another characteristic element is the wind of Antarctica: in particular, katabatic currents that, in short, arise because of the density of cold air that is parked on the Antarctic Plateau, which tends to 'slide' to the coast. Studies initiated since the early twentieth century have shown that there are preferential ways in which they allocate katabatic winds that can exceed 300 km / h (16 May 2004 McMurdo base was devastated by the storm intensified in the last thirty years, with gusts up to 188.4 mph). Just about the winds that blow on the Antarctic seas of Antarctica Sailing Direction for the U.S. Navy specifies that "often have the intensity of a hurricane, with winds reaching at times the speed of 150-200 mph. Not known elsewhere winds of such violence, except perhaps in the tropical cyclone. "
Regarding precipitation, low humidity makes it almost absent on the continent. Remarkable is the difference between the islands and the Antarctic plateau. Regarding the first one can take as an example because of the Bellingshausen Russian base (King George Island) where, in the period 1969-2005, ranging from an annual minimum of 471.8 mm (2003) to a maximum of 991.6 mm (1998), at Vostok, however, increased from a maximum of 66.4 mm (1958), at a minimum of 0.2 mm (1982 and 1995).
cold transition area (average annual temperature of -25 ° C to -40 ° C) cold katabatic
Area (average annual temperature of -30 ° C -40 ° C) Area
inner cold (annual mean temperature from -40 ° C to -50 ° C)
A central cold (average temperature below -50 ° C)
should be noted that, as regards' thermal aspect, there is a clear correlation between the altitude, latitude and distance from the sea (continentality). The Antarctic Plateau is a plateau of ice thickness in the east, may exceed 4,000 meters in altitude, and it is here that you realize the lowest temperatures of the world. The continuous meteorological observations on the Antarctic Plateau began with the International Geophysical Year, and today are carried out through two main sources of data acquisition: the permanent bases, managed by technical staff of scientific resident, and the AWS (Automatic Weather Stations), designed by the Wisconsin University and implanted since the early eighties.
Currently there are three permanent bases in the Antarctic Plateau: Amundsen-Scott (American), Vostok II (Russian) and Concordia (Italian French). The first, located at the geographic South Pole, according to the classification of Dalrymple falls within the interior cold: the average annual temperature (1957-2006) is -49.5 ° C. At Vostok, the cold central core, the annual average (1958-2006, with interruptions) is placed instead at -55.3 ° C.
Characteristic of Antarctic climate is the so-called Kernlose winter, a dramatic cooling that is achieved with the disappearance of the sun below the horizon and remains almost constant throughout the semester: a dynamic that is not found in the northern hemisphere, except perhaps in some of the internal areas of Greenland. So the classical seasonally, but maintained for the sake of comparison, in reality it makes little sense:
Area interior cold and cold in the core, which encompass about half of the continental surface, one can speak of a two-month summer ( December and January), preceded and followed by two seasons of transition (second half of October and November, February and first half of March), the remaining seven months (mid-March to mid- October) winter. During the summer the temperature rarely exceeds 20 ° C. The warmest month (December) at Amundsen-Scott recorded a mean of -28.0 ° C at Vostok to -31.9 ° C. The collapse temperature, which begins with the descent of the sun on the horizon, means that already in April the average of Amundsen-Scott is of -57.3 ° C, Vostok to -64.8 ° C in July, the average Amundsen-Scott is -60.1 ° C in August to Vostok to -68.0 ° C. This means that, during any period of winter, you can touch the extremes: the Amundsen-Scott to record stands at -82.8 ° C (23 June 1982), Vostok to -89.2 ° C ( July 21, 1983), the latter is the lowest temperature recorded on Earth.
Another characteristic element is the wind of Antarctica: in particular, katabatic currents that, in short, arise because of the density of cold air that is parked on the Antarctic Plateau, which tends to 'slide' to the coast. Studies initiated since the early twentieth century have shown that there are preferential ways in which they allocate katabatic winds that can exceed 300 km / h (16 May 2004 McMurdo base was devastated by the storm intensified in the last thirty years, with gusts up to 188.4 mph). Just about the winds that blow on the Antarctic seas of Antarctica Sailing Direction for the U.S. Navy specifies that "often have the intensity of a hurricane, with winds reaching at times the speed of 150-200 mph. Not known elsewhere winds of such violence, except perhaps in the tropical cyclone. "
Regarding precipitation, low humidity makes it almost absent on the continent. Remarkable is the difference between the islands and the Antarctic plateau. Regarding the first one can take as an example because of the Bellingshausen Russian base (King George Island) where, in the period 1969-2005, ranging from an annual minimum of 471.8 mm (2003) to a maximum of 991.6 mm (1998), at Vostok, however, increased from a maximum of 66.4 mm (1958), at a minimum of 0.2 mm (1982 and 1995).
The separation of the Antarctic waters from those of other oceans is called the Antarctic Convergence, is a strip of sea from 40 to 80 km wide, located about 1600 km from the coast and in which the temperature drops sharply. The Antarctic Convergence is a biological barrier insurmountable for small marine organisms and in which there is an ecosystem of 
very special.
The seas are very rich in zooplankton and krill (Euphausia superba This is its main component). The krill, in turn fed by a few species of algae that make up the phytoplankton, is the staple food of the food chain for animals on land and sea, it feeds on fish, whales, seals and sea lions, penguins and numerous seabirds.
on ice live and breed two species of penguins: the emperor penguins and Adelie penguins. Another thirty species of birds (belonging to the families of Charadriiformes and procellariformi) breed on the Antarctic continent, these include the royal albatross, the Snow Petrel, the Antarctic fulmars, nesting in the last two parts without snow , called Nunatak, the mountains of the interior, going up to 100 km inland from the coast.
Among the seals are widespread Weddell seals, seals and fearsome carnivorous leopard seal. During the summer months more than 100 millions of migratory birds nest and breed on sea ice and on the islands facing the continent.
Compared with the wealth of wildlife in the ocean and sea ice on the interior of the continent appears, even in those few areas deglaciation oasis, desert and desolate. The only life forms found there are bacteria, microorganisms, mosses, lichens and some invertebrates. The only plants that grow in Antarctica are two flowering plants, Deschampsia antarctica and the Colobanthus quietensis.
live in the Southern Ocean: krill, small crustaceans staple food of whales, seals and penguins, penguins, seals, cormorants and Albatros, whales, dolphins, seals and whales.
very special. The seas are very rich in zooplankton and krill (Euphausia superba This is its main component). The krill, in turn fed by a few species of algae that make up the phytoplankton, is the staple food of the food chain for animals on land and sea, it feeds on fish, whales, seals and sea lions, penguins and numerous seabirds.
on ice live and breed two species of penguins: the emperor penguins and Adelie penguins. Another thirty species of birds (belonging to the families of Charadriiformes and procellariformi) breed on the Antarctic continent, these include the royal albatross, the Snow Petrel, the Antarctic fulmars, nesting in the last two parts without snow , called Nunatak, the mountains of the interior, going up to 100 km inland from the coast.
Among the seals are widespread Weddell seals, seals and fearsome carnivorous leopard seal. During the summer months more than 100 millions of migratory birds nest and breed on sea ice and on the islands facing the continent.
Compared with the wealth of wildlife in the ocean and sea ice on the interior of the continent appears, even in those few areas deglaciation oasis, desert and desolate. The only life forms found there are bacteria, microorganisms, mosses, lichens and some invertebrates. The only plants that grow in Antarctica are two flowering plants, Deschampsia antarctica and the Colobanthus quietensis.
live in the Southern Ocean: krill, small crustaceans staple food of whales, seals and penguins, penguins, seals, cormorants and Albatros, whales, dolphins, seals and whales.
POLICY
The Antarctic Treaty, also known as Washington Treaty, is an international agreement aimed at defining the use of the parts that are uninhabited Antarctic south of latitude 60 ° S. The Treaty is the basis of the complex system of multilateral defined as the Antarctic Treaty System (Antarctic Treaty System or ATS)
objective of the Treaty is to establish guidelines for the peaceful use of the resources of the continent and for the preservation of flora , fauna and the ecosystem.
was signed at Washington December 1, 1959 and signed by the countries participating in the International Geophysical Year (1957-58) and was the first international agreement after the Second World War. Entered into force June 23, 1961.
Through the Treaty signatory countries with claims to territorial sovereignty agree to stop their demands and to abandon the economic exploitation or use for war purposes of the continent are in fact banned the activities of military and any activity involving nuclear explosions or deposits the radioactive material.
objective of the Treaty is to establish guidelines for the peaceful use of the resources of the continent and for the preservation of flora , fauna and the ecosystem.
was signed at Washington December 1, 1959 and signed by the countries participating in the International Geophysical Year (1957-58) and was the first international agreement after the Second World War. Entered into force June 23, 1961.
Through the Treaty signatory countries with claims to territorial sovereignty agree to stop their demands and to abandon the economic exploitation or use for war purposes of the continent are in fact banned the activities of military and any activity involving nuclear explosions or deposits the radioactive material.
Pergamon Journal of Earth Observing 
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