Ep. 184: Antarctica – Top 6 Facts
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on our fifth-largest continent which I’m sure you will know from episode 113 which was, “The 7 Continents in Order of Size” where the mnemonic was “Asia & Africa are North & South And Europe Alone” and that the and in the mnemonic is Antarctica. A continent where there are so many superlatives it was extremely hard to pack them all into one episode.
Antarctica is a little over a massive 14 million square kilometres and is nearly all covered in ice. Human activity is scarce and is limited to researchers and support staff at the various international scientific stations.
It is governed by the Antarctic Treaty which was signed by 12 countries in 1959. This treaty ensures the region remains dedicated to peaceful scientific research and prohibits military activity, mineral mining, and nuclear testing.
Antarctica’s temperature can vary greatly with the average annual temperature on the coast around -10°C, as opposed to the higher parts of the interior averaging -60°C. The extreme nature of Antarctica can be further illustrated by the highest temperature recorded on the mainland of 18.3°C at the Esperanza Base in 2020, while the lowest temperature recorded was -89.2°C, at Vostok station in 1983.
Apart from these temperature extremes, Antarctica holds a plethora of other stupendous facts such as the windiest continent, it is officially a desert, it holds 70% of the Earth’s freshwater, the largest ice sheet in the world, the largest icebergs, southernmost active volcano, a buried mountain range, some of the world’s biggest canyons, underground lakes, the saltiest lake on Earth, the Southern Lights, and a blood-red waterfall.
Today’s mnemonic will be on Antarctica’s top six facts.
So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent.
Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole.
Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2. Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km.
Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 metres.
Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 °C. The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 °C in the summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss.
The ice shelves of Antarctica were probably first seen in 1820, during a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The decades that followed saw further exploration by French, American, and British expeditions.
The first confirmed landing was by a Norwegian team in 1895. In the early 20th century, there were a few expeditions into the interior of the continent.
British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were the first to reach the magnetic South Pole in 1909, and the geographic South Pole was first reached in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries, all of which are parties of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System. According to the terms of the treaty, military activity, mining, nuclear explosions, and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited in Antarctica.
Tourism, fishing and research are the main human activities in and around Antarctica. During the summer months, about 5,000 people reside at research stations, a figure that drops to around 1,000 in the winter.
Despite the continent's remoteness, human activity has a significant effect on it via pollution, ozone depletion, and climate change.
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica]
Mnemonic
Antarctica – Top 6 Facts Mnemonic – ARCANE
(Picture Antarctica as the arcane continent which means mysterious or secret and understood by few)
1. Antarctica means ‘Opposite to the Arctic’
2. Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the geographic South Pole in 1911
3. Contains 70% of the Earth’s freshwater
4. Antarctica is the driest and windiest continent on the planet
5. Named by Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew in the 1890s
6. Established the Antarctic Treaty System in 1959 which was signed by 12 nations
NB: That meaning for Antarctica is taken from Wikipedia, but it can also mean no bears, opposite to the north, or opposite the bear or bears. And I will take the 5th on trying to explain that one!
Five Fun Facts
1. Antarctica is officially a desert (actually the largest desert if you listened to episode 42 of the podcast on the eight largest deserts) and the driest continent on the planet. The reason for this is that the cold temperatures and strong winds result in very low humidity, which makes it difficult to form clouds. Rain is more likely around the coastline, but still rare receiving on average around 200 mm per year.
Now I do have a short story of a time when I went to Antarctica many years ago. I actually went as part of the annual conference of The Flat Earth Society which was being held at the South Pole. Of course, on the plane when we finally sited Antarctica, I was the first to shout “Icy Land;” but, things really went south when we arrived, where attendance at the conference fell off! On the brighter side, we did get to see a Bipolar Bear!!
2. As stated in the mnemonic Antarctica holds around 70% of the Earth’s fresh water. This water, however, is bound up in the enormous ice sheet that is approximately 2.2 km thick and covers around 98% of the Antarctic continent. Scientists say that if this Ice Sheet were to melt entirely, it would raise global sea levels by around 60 meters.
3. The first to have crossed into the Antarctic Circle is believed to be Captain James Cook and his crew. Both of his ships, HMS Resolution and Adventure, entered the circle on January 1773, in December 1773, and again in January 1774, but never sighted land. The honour of discovery goes to the crew of two Russian ships – Vostok and Mirny – under the command of Captain Fabien Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in 1820.
4. The wildlife present on and around Antarctica is quite diverse considering its harsh and inhospitable nature. The penguin is Antarctica’s national animal and of the 17 species on the planet, eight of them inhabit Antarctica. There are also eight species of whales which include the Southern Right, Sei, Humpback, Fin, Antarctic Minke, Sperm, Blue Whale, and the Orca. Six species of seals exist, while the most common land animal is the tiny nematode worm at only a few millimetres long.
5. This fact is a bit of an eye-opener as I always thought that the saltiest lake on the Earth was the Dead Sea. But apparently this honour goes to the Don Yuan Pond which is at the base of the Transantarctic Mountains. Apparently, its salt concentration is around 45% compared to that of the Dead Sea at around 30%. Because of this high salt level, the lake remains liquid even in the freezing temperatures.
6. The last fact is on the blood red waterfall that was mentioned in the introduction. This waterfall was a mystery for over a hundred years before scientists discovered that the water originates from a subglacial lake which is high in salt and oxidised iron which gives it its amazing red colour when exposed to air.
Three Question Quiz
Q.1. What is the name of the active volcano on Antarctica?
Q.2. What is the highest point of Antarctica?
Q.3. Has Antarctica always been cold? Yes or No
Bonus Q. The world’s longest glacier is found in Antarctica. What is it called? Options are Lambert or Beardmore
Bonus Q. What country did Roald Amundsen come from?
Mnemonic Recap
Antarctica – Top 6 Facts Mnemonic – ARCANE
(Picture Antarctica as the arcane continent which means mysterious or secret and understood by few)
1. Antarctica means ‘Opposite to the Arctic’
2. Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the geographic South Pole in 1911
3. Contains 70% of the Earth’s freshwater
4. Antarctica is the driest and windiest continent on the planet
5. Named by Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew in the 1890s
6. Established the Antarctic Treaty System in 1959 which was signed by 12 nations
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. What is the name of the active volcano on Antarctica?
A. Mount Erebus at 3,794 metres
Q.2. What is the highest point of Antarctica?
A. Vinson Massif at 5,140 metres
Q.3. Has Antarctica always been cold? Yes or No
A. No, it used to be tropical when it was around the equator
Bonus Q. The world’s longest glacier is found in Antarctica. What is it called? Options are Lambert or Beardmore
A. Lambert
Bonus Q. What country did Roald Amundsen come from?
A. Norway
Word of the Week
latent
[ leyt-nt ]
adjective
present but not visible
Example
Antarctica contains a lake called Vostok hidden 3,623 metres under the ice, which is one and a half times the size of Cyperus where latent bacteria have remarkably been found.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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References
https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/blog/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-antarctica
https://www.secretatlas.com/explorers-club/antarctica/50-interesting-facts-2/
https://www.coolantarctica.com/schools/quiz/antarctica_quiz_1.php
https://www.funtrivia.com/submitquiz.cfm