Incredible facts
Antarctica is one of the most extreme places on Earth.
Despite the fact that visiting the region is quite a challenge, the ice in this part of the planet keeps many secrets that will help us understand the climate situation in other parts of the world.
As a rule, scientists here study how certain life forms, regardless of their size, are able to survive and even feel good in such hostile, barren, but an incredibly beautiful place.
Antarctic wonders
10. Gamburtseva Mountains
These are subice mountains in East Antarctica, whose ice cover is at least 600 meters high. These giants stretch for more than 1,200 km with peaks reaching a height of 3,400 meters.
The mountain range was first discovered by a group of Soviet scientists in 1957 in a very remote area of the continent, where temperatures often drop below -80 degrees Celsius.
Since their discovery, these mountains have been a subject of special scientific curiosity, but due to the isolation of the place, expeditions have been here only a few times.
Over the past decade, scientists have made remarkable discoveries about the Gamburtsev Mountains. Researchers spent many months collecting data and studying radar images of mountain ranges, which eventually showed deep river valleys, vast amounts of jagged peaks, and liquid peaks lakes at a depth of about 1.6 km under the ice.
Despite the fact that scientists have been able to prove the non-volcanic origin of the mountains, how they were formed is still a mystery.
The mountains look very young considering the fact that they are around 100 million years old. Experts explain this “youthfulness” by the slow process of erosion due to the ice tomb, which contains mountain ranges.
About Antarctica
9. Vostok Lake
Officially discovered by Russian scientists in the 1990s, Lake Vostok is today the largest subice lake in Antarctica, as well as the third largest and largest in the world.
The lake lies 3.5 km below the continent and was covered with ice more than 20 million years ago.
Incredibly, studying this lake will help scientists learn more about Europe's environment (Jupiter's moon) and Enceladus (Saturn's moon).
Read also: 10 interesting facts about the North and South Poles of the Earth
In 2012, Russian scientists drilled a hole and extracted a sample of water from the lake. Unfortunately, the sample was contaminated with drilling materials, and the team had to conduct a second sampling mission in 2015. During this attempt, scientists reached the water to a depth of almost 3,800 m.
Surprisingly, the water temperature in the lake is -3 degrees Celsius, and it does not freeze due to the enormous pressure created by the ice sheet. However, the scientific community is not convinced that the second sample is also free from impurities.
The Fifth Ocean
8. Southern Ocean
In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization decided that the Southern Ocean was now considered the world's fifth ocean. This ocean surrounds the entire Antarctic continent and consists of the South Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
The Southern Ocean is about twice as large as the United States, and its maximum depth is about 7,300 meters.
The ocean has very powerful currents that play an important role in ensuring the global circulation of the oceans.
It also absorbs vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but its powers are not unlimited.
Surprisingly, the Southern Ocean absorbs about 15 percent of humankind's carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution.
It is very difficult for researchers to collect and analyze data to see how the whole process is going and what makes it fluctuate in certain seasons.
The biggest glacier
7. Pine Island Glacier
Pine Island is Antarctica's unique glacier that melts the fastest. Pine Island is a stream of ice, and its melting contributes immensely to rising sea levels. No other glacier on the continent has such an impact.
In 2015, a massive 585 square kilometer iceberg separated from Pine Island and sailed freely.
The process of separating the iceberg
Scientists believe that several other parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet will also separate in the coming decades.
The consequences for the environment would be catastrophic, and the oceans could rise several meters, which would lead to the flooding of coastal areas across the globe.
Pine Island plays a vital role in preventing this because it acts as a dam to keep ice streams from entering the oceans.
Read also: Amazing adaptations of Arctic animals
As temperatures rise in the seas, this glacier, and others after it, warm up, which will sooner or later cause the Pine Island Dam to break through.
Antarctic life forms
6. Antarctic mushrooms
In Antarctica, fungi can survive under the most hostile living conditions. Although there are no trees on this continent, tree mushrooms live in wooden huts abandoned by Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott, two of the most legendary by researchers of the continent.
Ernest Sheckleton and Robert Scott
The huts have been empty for over a hundred years, and it seems as if several species of mushrooms that live there have always lived there.
Given that fungi thrive in warm, wooded areas, the fact that these endemic species have been found in such a place is very remarkable for scientists.
Another type of fungus was found on old fuel containers left by the same researchers.
This fungus could potentially be used to clean up large oil spills around the world.
Interesting facts about Antarctica
5. Large sand dunes
Sand is often associated with a warm climate, but Antarctica also has its own sand dunes, and quite large ones. Antarctica is actually the largest desert in the world.
This is an incredibly cold, dry, windy, and almost completely ice-covered area, with the exception of 1 percent of the entire area.
This 1 per cent is occupied by massive sand dunes. The largest dune is in the Victoria Valley. It is a whopping 70 meters in height and stretches more than 200 meters. The study of such dunes helps scientists theorize information about similar dunes on Mars.
Read also: 10 interesting facts about Antarctica
Unfortunately, Antarctic dunes are moving at an alarming rate that has tripled in the past 40 years.
Scientists believe that this accelerated migration, which is an average of 1.5 meters per year, may be directly related to climate change.
As carbon dioxide levels rise and the planet warms faster as a result, the ice melts and its control over the dunes weakens, causing them to “retreat” quickly. The researchers hope to find a safe way to reach the dunes to continue studying their behavior.
4. Ellsworth Lake
British scientists first discovered this subglacial lake in 1996, and it has kept their attention ever since. The lake is located at a depth of 3 km in Western Antarctica, and experts believe that it has been in its original form for more than 500,000 years.
Read also: 85 percent of the Arctic glacier has melted
Researchers are planning to begin the drilling process to answer the biggest mystery about subice lakes: is there life there?
A team of British scientists drilled a well into the lake in December 2012 to obtain a sample of water. They did this after determining which drilling method would be the least harmful to the lake.
Specialists have made a drill based on hot water, which allows you to create a cavity in the ice. It was planned to fill the appliances with water from the lake, and then pump the water to the surface.
However, the mission was withdrawn due to equipment issues and some operational issues.
Despite the fact that other research groups are drilling various subice lakes in Antarctica, they have not yet been able to penetrate this, so there is still a mystery about the presence or absence of life in Ellsworth remains unsolved.
3. Fossils
In November 2016, fossilized elytra of a new species of beetle were discovered near the Trans-Antarctic Mountains on the Beardmore Glacier. The beetle was named the Antarctic tundra beetle and lived 14-20 million years ago, when Antarctica was much warmer than it is today.
Previously, other fossils were found on the icy continent, which were the subject of heated discussions.
Thus, more than 30 years ago, unicellular diatoms were found in the floating peaks of the Transarctic Mountains.
A petrified leech cocoon found in Antarctica
For decades, scientists have failed to explain their existence. However, according to a new study, strong winds and shifting glaciers are likely to be the “culprits” for such a high concentration of fossil resources.
The findings also suggest that ice sheets are not as stable as previously thought.
Antarctic mountains
2. Mount Erebus
Mount Erebus is the southernmost active volcano in the world, located in Antarctica on Ross Island. The volcano is 3,800 meters high and is quite active. Mount Erebus is the most remote and one of the last on Earth with an active lava lake.
Read also: Artificial glaciers are a response to climate warming
The location and weather conditions do not allow scientists to visit the volcano often, so they receive most of the information, including about eruptions, from the satellite.
However, in 2013, a small group of experts did visit the volcano to look inside the caldera.
To their surprise, they saw small movements caused by the presence in the basin of living organisms living in the incredibly hot conditions of the volcano.
The volcano began to form about 1.3 million years ago. Snow, cliffs and glaciers cover the sides of the mountain, and steam often rises from its top. There are several ice caves in the mountain that are home to thousands of microorganisms.
Scientists believe that some of the world's least understood and strangest bacterial forms thrive in these caves.
The caves are close to the surface but are covered with a thin layer of ice. This makes climbing the mountain a very risky business. The caves also form ice crystals from the heat generated by the volcano.
Interesting facts about Antarctica
1. Bloody waterfall
From Taylor Glacier, the Bloody Falls emerges, a striking red color, which flows into Boney Lake, which is located in one of the Dry Valleys.
The waterfall is the size of a five-story house, and its creepy color is due to the liquid in the lake from which it originates.
The lake is very salty and rich in iron. The waterfall flows from a crack in the glacier and has its own ecosystem hidden under a thick layer of ice. Scientists believe that this lake is home to ancient groups of microbes that are cut off from the outside world. They are comfortable with little heat, without light and without oxygen.
The waterfall was first discovered by a geologist in 1911 and has been enchanting researchers ever since.
The theory is that the lake was formed when the Taylor Glacier “captured” the upper part of a large seawater basin almost five million years ago.
Scientists are excited about the prospect of studying the behavior of life on other planets based on a study of the waterfall ecosystem. Because Mars has a climate similar to that of the Antarctic Dry Valleys, this is an ideal place to decipher some of the universe's greatest mysteries.