Map Monday, Antarctica – What’s under all that ice?

Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest, and emptiest place on our planet.  Over 97% of its surface is covered in ice that at it’s thickest is almost three miles deep and averages one and a third miles.  While there’s been a lot of news about the arctic ice sheet or lack thereof, you don’t often hear about the much larger antarctic ice.  Antarctica contains 90% of the earth’s ice and more than two-thirds of its fresh water.  Unlike the arctic ice sheet which primarily covers open ocean, there’s a continent beneath antarctic ice.  That landmass is the subject of this week’s Map Monday.

This map is courtesy of the Wikipedia Antarctica article and shows the landmass below the Antarctic ice sheet.  The blue areas are below sea level.  The altitude and topography for the rest of the continent is given on the left-hand side.  The map does NOT make any adjustments for the missing ice, i.e., no increase in the ocean levels for melted ice and no allowance for isostatic rebound (the potential rise in land levels with the weight of the ice removed – yeah I looked it up).  The little bit of research I did leads me to believe that if the ice melted the oceans would rise more than the land, so some of the lower lying land would probably be underwater.

There are two principle ice sheets the eastern and the western.  The eastern holds 8 times the ice of the western.  While it might seem counter intuitive the recent rise in temperature has contributed to a thickening of the eastern ice sheet.  Basically the warmer air (a relative term in Antarctica) contains more moisture, which leads to more snow and ice.  What are the implications of more eastern ice or even higher temperatures, I haven’t the foggiest idea, but I suspect my children or grandchildren will find out.

Interesting facts about Antarctica:

1. Only ten people have been born in Antarctica.  Emilio Marcos Palma, an Argentinian who oddly enough was born in the British claimed territory and could claim British citizenship, was the first on 7 January 1978.
2. The average annual temperature at the Pole is -56 degrees F, with an annual high of near zero.
3. No humans live there permanently, but as many as 5,000 people are part-time residents.
4. The continent was not seen by humans (at least not recorded) until 1820.
5. The first arms control agreement of the Cold War designates Antarctica as a military free zone (1959).
6. Seven countries (Norway, Chile, Argentina, France, UK, Australia, & New Zealand) have territorial claims in Antarctica.
7. At 2,847 miles Auckland, NZ is the closest major city to the US research station (McMurdo).
8. Internet service is available at the South Pole station, but only for a few hours a day – basically when they can see a satellite.
9. McMurdo station is 16 hours ahead of US Eastern time (both locations are observing DST).
10. Antarctica is a premier hunting ground for meteorites.

If you’re interested in more facts about Antarctica, interesting or otherwise, here are a few links:

Gretchen Legler’s page from the University of Maine

The Live Science page cool facts

As always thanks for reading.

Armen