Because only Antarctica can offer the unique scientific research sites it does, it has been set aside as a place for only science. The most recognized detail of Antarctica may be the giant ice sheet. It almost covers the entire continent and then goes out into the ocean for hundreds of miles, too. The largest ice shelf, called The Ross Shelf Ice, is as big as the entire state of Texas! Scientists have measured the movement of the ice sheets and determined that every year, the ice mass travels 1800 feet. You can get the best arctic cruises information by visiting this website.
Antarctica makes up approximately two percent of the planet's total water and approximately ninety percent of the world's ice. Maintaining the stability of this vast inland ice proves to be the single greatest element in controlling the levels of the seas. If this ice should completely melt, the disastrous effects would cross the globe. Seaports would disappear, and coastlines would certainly change.
If all this ice were to melt, then the sea level would go up by a minimal of 250 feet. Therefore, everyone needs to know just how healthy the ice really is. Knowing how fast the ice is moving is not that important. Not only is the ice valuable in relation to sea level, but it also is a geophysical recording for up to the last million years.
Through the layers of ice, we can learn when nuclear explosions happened, as well as using lead in fuel and smelting lead. Scientists have tested how much lead has precipitated on the ice over 60 years. What these measurements show is an increase in lead concentration over the last ten years from the lead alkyls left behind from burned leaded gasoline used in various forms over the time. This increase lets us see some of the effects of pollution. As a person looking for arctic ocean cruises you should visit that site.
Although no elements were contained in the polar snows, trace amounts of DDT have been discovered in seals, some fish, and penguins in Antarctica. Objects from space that have crashed into earth from the time of the existence of this enormous ice shelf may be dated according to their positions in the different layers of the ice. Predictions could be offered for the types and quantity of particles that space vehicles will contact, assuming additional research demonstrated that such particles have a repeating pattern.
Because of the conditions, lichens make up the majority of the vegetation. Mites and springtails are the common land animals. Despite the presence of wingless flies, no flying insects live in the Antarctic. The southernmost mammals, the Weddell seal as well as the flightless penguin, live in the encircling seas. The Weddell seal has impressed his researchers in diving as deep as 1,500 feet and staying under water for as long as 30 full minutes while hunting for food.
Adelie penguins like to nest on iceless areas on Antarctica?s coasts. When winters approaches, they migrate north. They have an uncanny ability to maintain a course heading exactly and precisely, due to their ability to use the sun to learn their location. It took three Adelies ten months to travel the 2400 miles back to their rookery. Six had been transferred. They were taken to the South Pole via plane and then let go. Upon release, they quickly ascertained their situation then headed in a straight line for their homes.
The biggest creature ever to live contributes to this region's productivity by its mere presence. Today practically extinct, the great blue whale consumes almost a ton of shrimp every day, and they prove to be five times the size of any dinosaur that ever walked the earth. The waters of Antarctica house more specifies of fish than the Arctic. Ten percent of the bottom-dwelling fish found in Antarctica can be found somewhere else in the world. This bodes well for the importance of the Antarctic Convergence. |
