Interesting things about Antarctica

In terms of survival skills it wouldn’t matter how good you are, the only chance of surviving on this continent comes from relying on man-made supplies. There are no trees or bushes to build a shelter with and nothing to eat inland whatsoever, making it impossible to live here without being supported 100% from the outside. Apart from being impossible to naturally live on it also happens to be the most unexplored place on earth, mostly due to the enormous amount of glacial ice flowing across the surface. Here are a few facts about Antarctica that show just how strange and unique this frozen wasteland is.

There are only 6 different plants that naturally grow on the continent

Due to the extreme conditions, there are very few plants capable of surviving here, and none of them happen to be useful. Antarctica Pearlwort and Antarctica hair-grass are the only plants on the continent that can flower, with the other four types made up of moss, Liverwort, Lichen, and macro-fungi. There are many species within these types, with over 400 species of lichen found so far, but in terms of different plant types, you have a choice of six.

No one owns it

Since Antarctica doesn’t have a permanent population that means that it doesn’t have its own government. No one has successfully claimed the continent as one of their overseas territories or established permanent and enforceable governance, so in terms of being internationally recognized as belonging to an independent nation, the whole continent is technically up for grabs.

There are a few countries that have claimed ownership of parts of Antarctica but none of these are internationally recognized and often overlap with one another. Since no one is going to send troops there to fight over endless miles of snow anytime soon, it seems the claims of who owns what will remain as petty governmental squabbles.

(Some of the locals from one of the outlaying islands)

There are no laws there

Antarctica isn’t officially ruled by any one nation, so the laws that apply to people in their own countries don’t apply in Antarctica. If you go to another country and commit a crime, you will be punished in accordance with that country’s corresponding law on whatever you did, but if that country doesn’t have any laws, perhaps because it doesn’t have a government then you can’t technically do anything illegal.

Because of this, a number of nations created the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. Originally there were 12 countries that signed it which are listed as follows: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

There have since been further countries who have signed on to the treaty but it generally means that if you are a citizen of one of the countries on the treaty then certain laws of your home country apply to you when you’re there. Most of them are what you’d expect such as no murder or theft, but most crimes would be very difficult to enforce as evidence and law technicalities would mess everything up.

Less than 1% of the land has been explored

If you ever see a picture of Antarctica where you can see the ground, these are the tops of mountain ranges that have been pushed up by huge glaciers. The actual land part of the continent sits thousands of feet below the ice and probably won’t be explored for hundreds of years.

The problem with drilling down to the surface is that the glaciers covering it are constantly moving, making it impossible to dig down before they close up. Sometimes it takes weeks for them to move a few inches, but drilling to such depths with millions of tons of frozen water that could crush your tunnel at any moment is enough to put anyone off from trying.

(A local penguin gang shaking down an isolated field researcher for treats and attention)

Random Interesting things about Antarctica

• Antarctica is bigger than all of Europe which has a population of around 750 million people. The peak population of Antarctica during the summer is less than 10,000.

• The coldest temperature ever recorded on earth was taken at the Russian Vostok research station on July 21, 1983, and measured -89.2 C ( -128.6 F)

• No one has been murdered here, or at least no one knows about any murders. So far there hasn’t been a direct case of murder recorded anywhere on the continent.

• Most of the continent is covered by ice at least 1 mile thick ( 1.6 kilometers)

• Antarctica doesn’t have a single permanent resident. Most people do either 6 or 12-month terms here but not a single person is recognised as living here permanently.

• There are about 75 research stations here. Almost 50 of them are permanently staffed and operate year-round, and the rest are made up of summer-only stations. It’s difficult to get an exact number of research stations as some of them only exist for a single summer.

• The continent gets less than 5 inches of precipitation each year which always falls as snow. When you see it snowing in Antarctica this is due to old snow being blown around in the wind and dumped in a new location as opposed to “fresh” snow as most people are used to.

• Antarctica has the driest air on earth as all moisture instantly freezes and falls to the ground as frost.

• People working here need up to 6,000 calories a day just to survive. Because the air is so dry and simply walking around outside is a real challenge, most people need at least twice the calorie intake they normally require just to maintain their condition.