The Geography of Antarctica
Antarctica is named after the Arctic: since it is at the opposite end of the planet, it’s the ANTI-ARCTIC. The Artic is named after the constellation of Arktos: ‘The Bear,’ so Antarctica must mean against or no bears. Which is convenient since no polar bears are found in the Antarctic only the Arctic.
Antarctica originally (about 200 million years ago) was warmer and was covered in lush forests. At that point in time it was part of the massive continent known as Gondwana. The continent moved sluggishly southward and so grew colder. Then, around about 40 million years ago, it was completely isolated from other continents which became India, Africa and, the last to leave it, Australia. This new land became even colder until the temperate forests vanished. These forests once included beech trees, cycads, dinosaurs and conifers and would have looked like the forests you see in Southern Chile today (without the dinosaurs) but now the only plants you find in the Antarctic are lichens, moss and algae.
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On maps, the Arctic is directly in the north, often described as ‘up’. Therefore Antarctica is south or ‘down’ on maps. So it’s the southernmost continent. Antarctica surrounds the South Pole at the ‘bottom’ of the world. The closest continent to Antarctica is South America: 960 kms away from the closest point. The next closest continents are Australia and New Zealand which are tied at 2400 kms. To get to Antarctica from Africa, you would need to travel 2700 kms.
Where warm air or water meet cold air or water, you get storms. Nowhere is this more true than the stormy oceans of Antarctica which have some of the largest waves in the world. The seas around Antarctica are called the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties and the Screaming Sixties because of the fierce winds.
THE ANTARCTIC POLAR FRONT, Or the Antarctic Convergence.
South of 60 degrees latitude is a stretch of the Southern Ocean about 40 kilometers wide where the warmer waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic meet the saltier, colder waters that surround Antarctica. Why is the water around Antarctica saltier? Click on the hyperlink to my chapter ‘ Why are the waters around Antarctica saltier?’ Since colder water is denser than warmer water, this layer begins to pass under the warmer, upper layer, but not smoothly, not gently. The Antarctic Polar Front is the area where these temperatures mix, leading to turbulence and waves. Around the land mass of Antarctica the temperature is roughly 1.8 degrees Celsius, but at the front where it mixes with the warmer northern oceans, it’s a much more pleasant 3.5degrees Celsius. Bizarrely, most marine animals in Antarctica are found south of the front where it’s colder.
The average winds found around this Antarctic polar front are the strongest average winds found anywhere on the planet. There may be higher winds found in cyclones, or roaring across deserts but the average winds, hour after hour, day after day are the fastest.
The average winds found around this Antarctic polar front are the strongest average winds found anywhere on the planet. There may be higher winds found in cyclones, or roaring across deserts but the average winds, hour after hour, day after day are the fastest.