#845 Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Seal Brains recipe for those living in Antarctica.

One of the coolest museums I've ever been to was extraordinary not because of what was in it, but where it was -- it was in Antarctica! With the cans of food, girly posters on the walls, the old wooden stove, and the recipe book open to 'Seal Brains on Toast' it was intended to be a glimpse of the past when the station was manned permanently (now it has 4 volunteers living there for the summer season only). It has a copy of the sleds used to cross to the South Pole out in front and even a gift shop and post office. The volunteers do not leave the island and have no boats (I want that job!) and the house was painstakingly restored to represent life as it was. 

Using for whaling in the early part of the 20th century, a whale skeleton's ribs dot the landscape of a nearby island. It was a British base through World War II and remained as a research station until 1962, even enjoying visits from the royal family. It lies on tiny Goudier Island, near Wiencke Island in the Palmer Archipeligo north of the Antarctic circle near the Antarctic Peninsula. One of the most amazing things in the museum that I remember seeing was the story of a tsunami that hit, when the residents went onto the roof after the bay was sucked dry! Can you imagine being in a place like that when there's an event like that!

The best thing of all, though, was the penguins that have made the island their territory and their little pathways and constant noise and smell meant it was truly a home. 

 

Because they are a charity supported by the British Antarctic Trust perhaps you would like to donate here.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Lockroy
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/virtual/travel/lockroy.php

#882 Lemaire Channel, Anarctica

While it may appear to be a very large channel, in bad weather its possible to have to navigate the small (1,600m wide at its narrowest), iceberg-filled area in fog and clouds so low you can't see either side -- if you can pass through at all due to the ice. Nicknamed by visitors as 'Kodak Gap', it is a spectacular, narrow passage between the Antarctic Kiev Peninsula and Booth Island. It was named by De Gerlache for a fellow Belgian explorer (of the Congo!), the first to traverse it 1898. Such high cliffs (3000m) on either side make for spectacular scenery, making a large ship appear nothing more than a toy.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemaire_Channel
http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/travel/locations/lemaire_channel.shtml

#892 Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Called Deception Island by the whalers that had their base there because they said you could see it from the outside, and not know there was a massive hole and bay on the inside. They also called it deceptive because even when you in there was a bay, you'd think it would be sheltered but the wind rustling through meant that it wasn't actually as warm and safe as it appeared. The opening ¨Nelson´s Bellows¨ is around 200m wide with a large rock in the middle just below the surface, making it a dangerous entrance (the wrecks on the beach are testament to this!), and it is an active volcano, with its 1967 eruption covering much of a British base still there. A tractor was buried in the sand, the graves are well-buried, and the remains of the whaling colony and later settlements were covered with lahar. Argentina and Chile maintain a presence here, as do the penguins.

While you a no longer allowed to dig yourself a hole in the warm sulfur filtered beaches, you can still take a polar plunge there and feel moderately warmer than you might elsewhere! Chinstrap and gentoo penguins may stop on the beach while you look at the remains of the whale bones, wooden oil barrels, and metal bone boilers, and a run down barracks. The airplane hanger remains (it was the location of the first flight in Antartica), though you'll be hard pressed to find the runway, roughly sketched out on a rise as it was. Fascinating stories, and an amazing place!

 

#993 Antarctica

What could be more amazing than an entire massive continent with volcanoes, mountains, minerals, ice, animals and sheer bulk that belongs to no single person, but to everyone in the world held in trust for future generations to enjoy and savor? There are no permanent residents, and 1959's Antarctic Treaty was truly a revolutionary concept of world powers actually sharing and protecting the environment! Military action and mining is prohibited -- what bliss!

With amazing superlatives like coldest, driest, windiest, and highest average elevation, and first confirmed sighting only as recent as 1820, it's isolation, cold temperatures, and inaccessibility will continue to preserve it and to challenge explorers in the future.

In recent decades it has become more possible for the average person to visit in private icebreaker boat tours leaving from Argentina and Chile, although, of course, significant savings are required!

Spectacular!

Oh, did I mention the amazing animals? Seals, penguins, whales, algae, birds, etc, etc!

Sorry, no pictures -- it's on my to do list, and I've booked a cruise for December 2012, so will update this when I do!

UPDATE: Here are some Antarctica posts: Deception Island (#892), Lemaire Channel (#882)

Information source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica

Lake Vostok

Lake Vostok is the largest of more than 140 subglacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. Ice it provides a continuous record of Earth's climate 400,000 years, although the lake water itself may have been isolated for 15 to 25 million years. The lake is named Vostok, 900 tons of Russian corvette Fabian von Bellingshausen Antarctic pioneer.

Average water temperature of -3 ° C and the reason why the lake is still liquid below freezing is the influence of high pressure from the weight of ice on it.
The scientists also discovered that the ice core may be 420,000 years old, which means that the lake is covered for more than 500,000.

Lake Vostok is located beneath Russia's Vostok Station on the bottom surface of the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is at 3488 meters (11,444 feet) above sea level. Surface freshwater lake is about 4,000 m (13,100 feet) below the surface ice, which puts it at approximately 500 m (1,600 feet) below sea level. The lake is divided into two basins by a ridge depth. Liquid water through the ridge is about 200 m (700 ft), compared with about 400 m (1,300 ft) deep in the northern basin and 800 m (2,600 feet) deep south.

Antarctica

Antarctica is the continent south of the earth, encapsulating the South Pole. It is located in the Antarctic from the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km2 (5.4 million square miles), it is the fifth largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. For comparison: Antarctica is almost twice the size of Australia. Approximately 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice which averaged at least 1.6 kilometers (1.0 miles) in thickness.

Antarctica, on average, is the continent, the coldest driest, and windy, and has the highest average elevation of all continents. Antarctica is considered desert, with annual rainfall of only 200 mm (8 inches) along the coast and far inland. The temperature in Antarctica has reached -89 ° C (-129 ° F). There are no permanent human inhabitants, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people live year-round research stations on the spread across the continent. Only cold adapted organisms survive there, including many types of algae, animals (eg mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades), bacteria, fungi, plants, and protists. Vegetation where there is tundra.

Being in Antarctica was in the middle of nowhere. Its natural wonders, mountains of ice giants with different shapes, glester vast and sprawling snow, all very impressive and exotic. Since the first Antarctic research into objects that never ended even now there is such a trip to Antarctica. Our job is to keep our environment so that the impact of global warming does not melt ice at the South Pole.

Dry Valleys - Dry Valleys in Antarctica

Dry Valleys Of Antarctica (Antarctic dry valley) is the only place in the Antarctic landmass is not covered with snow.
The place is one of the most exstrem desert in the world is located in Victoria Land, west of McMurdo Sound.
Antarctica has a total area of ??14 million km ², where most of the landmass is covered snow thickness can reach 1500 meters and even 2000 meters. Dry Valley itself occupies 0.03% of total area of ??Antarctica, which is 4800 km ².

Dry valleys are also known as the 'oasis' Antarctica. In contrast to the oasis in the desert fertile, this place is an isolated valley by geological formations in the vicinity. As a result, the glacier could not enter because it was blocked by the structure of these rocks, because at low temperatures glaciers will harden and can not pass the basic structure of the rough rock.
But this scene will be slightly different when it is to enter the summer. Glaciers from the region around a snow-covered will soften due to rising air temperatures and into the Dry Valley.

These glaciers finally melt and flow toward lower ground. This leads to the formation of seasonal rivers in this dry valley. With the availability of water, moss and some other forms of vegetation can grow.

Dry Valleys allows geologists to collect rock samples and fossils of ancient life that will provide various information about the condition of Antarctica millions of years ago.

Another uniqueness of this place is the frozen lake at the bottom of the valley. This lake has an ice thickness of up to several meters. Beneath the layers of ice water that had contained very high levels of salt which is inhabited by rare and mysterious organisms. Organism that is the subject of research experts microbiology.

Aurora Borealis, Arctic

Aurora Borealis, The Northern Light is a light colored adorn the night sky around the northern polar regions such as Norway, Finland, Russia, and Canada. Elongated shape like a bow or a curtain-like space that lies in the extent of highway and sometimes even like scarves angels are dancing on Khayangan so there is a myth that states the Aurora as The Dance of the Spirits, aka the dance of the spirits in the world else there.

Aurora Borealis name derived from the name of the Roman god, the goddess of dawn and Aurora Boreas, the Greek god who controlled the north wind.

We can see the Aurora Borealis at night in the months change of seasons like the September-October and March-April.Aurora Borealis emitting a greenish tint and reddish tinge as the sun rising in the night.

There are several scientific theories about Aurora:
• Aurora Electrons originating from the light emitted by the sun.
(Kristian Birkeland, 1900)
• Aurora is the flow of radiation belt (Radiation Belt / leaky bucket theory)
(James Van Allen -1962)
• Aurora produced by the solar wind particles that carry the Earth
to the top of the atmosphere. 

 

83-42, Greenland

This is an unusual and unique, but 83-42 are believed to be the only pieces of land in the north. It's just "a piece" in size approximately 35 mx 15 m and height 4 m. When viewed from above, like just a speck of land surrounded by shards es.Unik! When the Arctic is covered by ice, but the land is not. See picture! The uniqueness is once again toppled the previous record which ATOW 1996. The uniqueness of 83-42 was found in 1998.

Don Juan Pond, Antarctica

Don Juan Pond is one of the best places in the world. This place is a place that has the highest salt content in the world. This place ahead of salinity the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is world famous for its salt content is very high.

Based on research, high salt content of sea water could be a medical therapy. No wonder that in many built near the Dead Sea spas for therapy, particularly health and beauty therapy. But it was not the terasin Dead Sea in the world.



Precisely Don Juan Pond, a lake with the highest salt content in the world. The comparison when juxtaposed with the sea in general, Don Juan Pond 18 times saltier than normal seawater, and when compared with the Dead Sea, the Don Juan Pond 8 times more salty.

This location is found by Lt.. Don Roe and Fl. John Hickey, in 1961, when they do research in Antarctica. The name of Don Juan Pond is also given by two researchers of this army, perhaps combining both names.

The temperature in the pool was like a general in the Antarctic region, is quite low, with lows can reach -30 degrees Celsius. But never until frozen like other places in Antarctica.