Of course, one of the most mysterious and mysterious places on the planet is Antarctica - the land of ice. It’s impossible to briefly describe this amazing continent: no matter how poor the nature of endless frozen expanses seems to us, there are many interesting landscapes. And if before the mainland was exclusively familiar to researchers and polar explorers, today many extreme tourists are trying to see for themselves huge icebergs and snowy deserts.
General information
Antarctica is translated from Greek as "the opposite of the Arctic." This is a huge continent, which occupies the southernmost part of the planet. Through its center, the earth's axis conventionally passes, since it is here that the south pole is located. About 15 million square kilometers is the area that Antarctica occupies. No wonder the ice country received such a snowy name, because 1.5 million km² of its total territory is occupied by ice shelves.
Because of its isolated and distant location, Antarctica became the last mainland on which the human foot has set foot. This happened only in the 19th century: a Russian expedition led by Mikhail Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen discovered these lands. Because of the eternal cold and endless nights, people could not populate them. The climatic conditions here are really harsh: the temperature can drop to -80 º, icy winds blow at a speed of 90 m / s. Nowadays, the territory does not belong to any state. Representatives of different countries conduct research here. Antarctica - the land of ice - graciously sheltered 3 thousand scientists who work at 37 different stations.
Endless ice
They are the main attraction of the continent. By the way, among the other brothers, he is the highest. Antarctica rises above sea level by 2 thousand kilometers, in the center - by as much as 4 thousand. Most of the height is the glacial surface, hiding in its bowels a continental plume. Only about 5% of the area is ice-free - in the western part and the Transantarctic mountains.
Since Antarctica is a land of ice, a lot of information about its volume is written in encyclopedias for children and adults. Scientists claim that the frozen cover here is the most gigantic on the planet, in size it is 10 times the size of the snowy achievements of Greenland. Consists of 30 million km² - this is 90% of all land ice. A feature of the continent is the huge number of ice shelves located here - these are low “blue” areas that make up a tenth of the territory. Very beautiful icebergs that rise above sea level and sometimes reach huge sizes.
Frozen tsunami
It is clear that for many people Antarctica is associated exclusively with cold ice. But do not think that snow formations are boring layers or boulders: sometimes they take the form of frozen giant waves, which seem to have stopped on their crushing path and, with a wave of a magic wand, have become exquisite sculptures. These are the so-called ice tsunamis - a real place of pilgrimage for tourists, an landscape of unusual beauty. What can I say - the highlight of the snowy continent. The blocks are incredibly beautiful, as they consist of pure dazzling blue ice.
Antarctica, the land of ice, has adorned their surface with them for hundreds of years. Its frosts were the main assistant, and water and the sun took an active part in the process. The mechanism for creating a tsunami is simple. Initially, the ice has a white color, since there are many air bubbles in it, with the onset of summer it melts under the influence of sunlight, in winter, on the contrary, it freezes - and so on and on. But the trick is that the newly icy layers push out air bubbles, so the light passes into the very depths of the ice. Thus, huge turquoise frozen tsunamis grow in front of us, which in spring and summer play with all the colors of the rainbow.
Nature
The surrounding world is mysterious and unusual here: Antarctica - the land of ice - the most unexplored continent on the planet, so not much is known about its flora and fauna. The harsh climate has caused life to be absent in most of the land. The surface of the continent is snowy, ice-covered land on which you will not find vegetation during the day with fire. True, various lichens, mosses and mushrooms successfully grow on separate sections of bare lands. Also there are angiosperms and algae.
The richest coast, especially in southern Antarctica. Therefore, many birds nest here, among which the mainland's symbol is penguins, as well as cormorants, petrels, skuas. They feel good in the icy sea, and therefore sperm whales, blue whales and various pinnipeds live and breed actively. Most of Antarctica is located beyond the Arctic Circle: there are long polar days and nights. At the very pole, they reach six months, so you can see the sunrise and sunset here only once a year.
Erebus
Oddly enough, but among the permafrost and endless expanses of snow is the most active and active volcano on the planet. It was first noticed in the middle of the 19th century by an expedition from Great Britain: it sailed along the coast of the continent. One of the English ships was called "Erebus" - hence the name of the volcano. For the first time, man climbed this peak on March 10, 1908. Nowadays, the height of the fiery mountain is about 3,794 meters above sea level, its huge crater constantly spews hot clubs of steam.
Antarctica, the land of ice, can rightfully be proud of Erebus. After all, this is one of the three volcanoes on the planet that hides in its depths an inexhaustible lava lake. In addition to the Arctic giant, only Kilauea in Hawaii and Nyiragongo in Africa have inexhaustible reserves of lava fluid. Over the past century, there have been 8 eruptions, the largest - in 1972. Interestingly, the surface of Erebus is dotted with ice towers of strange and bizarre shapes - these are icy steam geysers and lava, which are beaten from the bowels of a fiery mountain in an endless stream.
Dry valleys
Many interesting facts can be gleaned by preparing a report or project about the mainland. Antarctica is a land of ice, but who would have thought that this is where the driest place on Earth is. Almost two million years there was no rainfall. The reason for all the strong winds that walk at a speed of 320 km / h: evaporating moisture, they ensured the complete absence of snow and rain in the local area. And this despite the fact that it is in the Dry Valleys that Lake Vida is located, as well as Onyx, the longest river in Antarctica.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of informative and beautiful places. For example, Don Juan is the most saline lake in the world, with a salt concentration of as much as 40%, which is two times higher than the Dead Sea. The dry valleys are of great interest to NASA representatives, since the local climate is very similar to the Martian one. Every day, Americans conduct research, which, incidentally, is quite successful. They allow you to detect many bacteria, which are evidence that life on the Red Planet still exists.
Bloody waterfall
It was in the Dry Valleys that the Australian geologist and scientist Griffith Taylor in 1911 discovered an amazing place: bright scarlet streams flowed from a giant glacier. At first they thought that red algae attached color to the water , but this version was erroneous. Only decades later, scientists discovered the secret of Bloody Waterfall: the source contains a large amount of ferrous iron, which, when oxidized by air, turns into rust. The metal itself is a product of the metabolism of various organisms that inhabit these waters.
There is enough water on Bloody Waterfall: it comes from a lake, which is hidden in the bowels of a glacier at a depth of 400 meters. The living creatures that inhabit it calmly survive in the complete absence of oxygen, heat and light. Although many are more interested in the question of where a real waterfall could have formed here, because Antarctica is a country of ice, so the air temperature here is always low. And the thing is in the same salt. There is really too much of it in mainland waters, so the springs do not freeze even in very biting frosts.