Conceivably Profitable: Antarctica
Only in Antarctica can some research be carried out, so it has been reserved specifically as a place of science. Antarctica’s most impressive characteristic is the giant ice sheet which covers almost all of the land. It also goes out hundreds of miles into the ocean in a few places. Crossing the Ross Shelf Ice would take some time, as it is as big as the State of Texas. There have been studies through the years that show this particular chunk of ice is moving to the north at a speed of almost 1800 feet per year.
Of all the ice in the world, Antarctica carries more than nine-tenths of it, and 2% of the planet’s water resides there. Maintenance of sea levels across the globe rely on the fluctuations of the great inland ice. If just a few feet were taken off the inland ice, the sea level would rise enough to cause significant disasters to low-altitude areas, like seaports. The most comprehensive information on arctic circle tour can be found on that website.
If all this ice melted at once, then the sea levels would go up by more than 250 feet. Because of this, it is critically essential to know the current day situation regarding the Antarctica ice mass. It doesn’t really matter what the ice is doing right at the moment. In theory, this enormous sheet of ice contains a complete record of all geophysical events from today all the way back to potentially a million years.
The ice and snow have recorded events like nuclear explosions, the use of leaded gasoline and even lead smelting. Scientists have examined how much lead has particulated on the ice since 1950. Lead alkyls have found their way into the ice. These are the result of the use of gasoline which includes lead and have been found to have increased exponentially. The hope is that we can gather information that will indicate the pollution growth rate and how much we need to worry about this problem.
While fish, seals an penguins all had DDT in them, polar snows showed a remarkable lack of these chemicals. Able to be dated as a result of their locations in the layers of ice, particles from outer space have been hitting earth as long as the enormous ice sheet was there. Assuming that additional research uncovers that these particles contain a revolving pattern, then predictions concerning the amount and type of space particles that vehicles will run into can be determined. Further information on travel arctic can be found there.
The most common type of vegetation in Antarctica are lichens. Mites and springtails are the common animal life forms on the land itself. Flying insects cannot withstand the weather conditions in Antarctica, and the wingless fly is one of the largest land animals. In the ocean that surrounds Antarctica, you can find the flightless penguin or the Weddell seal. Amazingly, the Weddell seal can dive up to 1500 feet and stay down for a long as 30 minutes without needing to come up for breath.
Antarctic coasts give Adelie penguins nesting grounds. These animals then head northward when winter comes. Because of their inherent ability to steer by the sun as well as their biological clock, they have the uncanny capability of staying on a precise course. In ten months, one half of a group of Adelies that were released thousands of miles from their rookery found it again. They were taken to the South Pole where they were let free. As soon as the penguins were released, they looked up at the sun and began a mission to make it back home exactly the way they came from.
The largest creature to live on this planet can found near Antarctica. Five times bigger than the largest recorded dinosaur, the almost extinct great blue whale eats one ton of shrimp a day. Numerous more types of fish live in Antarctic seas than do in the Arctic Ocean. 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.
