An Arctic Narrative: Antarctica’s Past
The segregated nature of Antarctica has been shown by an American explorer. You can experience the world’s largest ice mass when visiting Antarctica. It nearly covers the continent’s five million square acres. Some scientist have said the ice sheet is 2000 feet thick, but others say it must be much thicker. Everything is covered in ice except the coastal land strips and the tallest mountain peaks. Go to this site for further information on Antarctic Cruising Tours.
Traveling through valleys, the ice moves as a giant glacier toward the sea. Rising above sea level at eight to ten thousand feet, the central plateau is huge and houses the South Pole.
Map makers have cut Antarctica into four separate areas named for northern seas or lands. They are called the African, Australian, Pacific and American quadrants. The Pacific and African quadrants hold coastlines that really have yet to be explored. Similarly, there is but a small area of the American quadrant which has been explored to any degree, but the Australian quadrant, home of the Ross Sea sector, has received quite a bit of attention.
Ross Sea serves as the eastern boundary of the Australian quadrant, which spans west to Queen Mary Land to include South Victoria Land, King George V Land, Oates Land, Adelle Land and Wilkes Land. The Ross Barrier, which measures about 160, 000 square miles, can be found in the mountainous area near the western rim of the Ross Sea. You will find that further information on antarctica vacations is on that site.
On this barrier, the explorer based his camp. It was close to the Bay of Whales, which is a harbor created by ice cliffs in the shelf face. Ross Island is perched at the westernmost point of the barrier, and features a pair of volcanoes, Mount Erebus and Mount Terror. From King Edward VII Land to the Ross Sea, the barrier travels for 400 miles. From the ocean to the mountainous regions, along the polar course, it is 400 miles wide.
Only Antarctica is home to shelf ice, with the barrier being the biggest example of it. It was created by sections of glacier that traveled down the mountains and then ran into the sea in the Ross Sea section. At present, the back country deposits ice to the Ross Sea by way of glacial channels ranging from five to fifteen miles in width and sometimes one hundred miles in length. Scientists don’t know if the Barrier is floating in the water or sitting on the bottom.
Great offshoots of rock are found in King Edward VII Land, which is in the Pacific quadrant. It is edged by the Ross Sea on its westward edge. This sector was penetrated by the explorer during his first long flight from the Bay of Whales and it is here that he observed the Scott Nunataks and the Alexandra Mountains. In later flights he was able to find fourteen uncharted mountain peaks, one new island and a ton of land that is begging to be explored. Perhaps the later flights may assist scientist in establishing the coastline of the Pacific Quadrant and provide more information and knowledge regarding this territory.
There American quadrant houses the Coats Land, Charcot Land and Graham Land areas. One well-known spot is the Weddell seal area, which indents into the land. Flights over Graham Land discovered that is truly was not connected to the continent, but is an island separate from the land mass. Knowing whether or not to split the continent is today’s geographical challenge for Antarctica. The American quadrant’s Weddell Sea is virtually opposite the Australian quadrant’s Ross Sea.
The research possibilities of Antarctica are basically limitless. Geographers want to finish mapping the coast, as well as the mountain ranges and polar plateau.
The geologist is very involved in learning the composition of the ice covered land and in the gathering of geological data from glacial moraines and rock outcroppings which aid in explaining the glaciology of the continent.
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