First popolation or exploration of Antarctica

Dec 26, 2024

ANTARCTICA: A HUGE MASS OF ICE

Antarctica is an area of approximately 13.660.000 km², equal to 10% of the world's land mass, largely hidden by a blanket of ice. which occupies the ice cap opposite the Arctic, included in the Antarctic Polar Circle and which has the South Pole as its center. It is characterized by the structural and morphological differences between the eastern and western parts, the first being an immense plateau covered in ice and the second a group of lands morphologically joined together in a thick glacial blanket whose weight has caused the ground to sink. Horizontally, the coasts are not very articulated except in the western part, while vertically the continent is covered by the largest mass of ice in the world, with a dome shape and an average height of approximately 2.100 m.

ICEBERGS, ICE-SHELF AND TONGUES

The deep inlet of the Weddell Sea is bordered to the west by Graham Land, which juts out towards South America, while beyond the meridian of 80 degrees West the coast pushes back towards the ocean with the deep inlet of the Ross Sea. The continent receives snow in such abundance that it compensates for the losses due to the formation of icebergs, blocks of floating ice detached from the front of small glaciers, several dozen meters above the water level and with sides of up to 1 km2. The ice-shelves, on the other hand, are ice shelves covered in snow, the most typical of which is the Ross Barrier, while the tongues are tongues of ice appendages of glaciers descending towards the sea.