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It's a long weekend, so I'll do a bonus random point: 75.79° S, 97.21° W. More ice!
Physical geography:
Two Antarctica points in a row, what are the odds? About 1 in 10 actually, Antarctica is a big place, bigger than Europe or the United States. We've gone to the opposite side of the continent though, south of South America, and landing on the Pine Island Glacier, about 80 miles from its outlet into the Amundsen Sea. The glacier is not especially large by Antarctica standards, but it is very fast moving, giving it the distinction of dumping more ice into the ocean than any other individual glacier - 46 gigatonnes (46,000,000,000 tonnes) of ice per year! And thanks to climate change it has been accelerating, with a measured increase of 74% between 1974 and 2007. Part of this glaciers speed may be that it is being heated from below, there was a nearby volcanic eruption 2,200 years ago in the mostly, but not quite buried Hudson Mountains along the north side of the glacier and scientists have found that the volcanic heat source is still there underneath. A giant trench has opened up in recent years running down the center of the glacier, the Wikipedia page is definitely worth reading and includes some video. The ice is about 5,000 thick here, and it's still going to be all ice and snow on the surface. Temperatures are -10° F in summer, -30° in winter, not near the extremes in East Antarctica, but still cold enough you're not likely to see much life here.
Human geography:
We're in an unclaimed portion of Antarctica and by some measures it is even more remote than our previous point. It's a whopping 870 miles to the nearest permanent research station, U.K.'s Rothera station on the Antarctic Peninsula. The U.S. has had temporary camps studying the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would be a little closer at about 350 miles away, but thanks to it being at the forefront of climate change research we know the area near our point have definitely been visited, mostly by American and British research teams. The first documented visitor was Charles Bentley in 1961 on a research trip measuring ice thickness. His expedition was overland, numerous visits have been made since by air, landing on the glacier. Various teams have installed automated GPS stations, a weather station, and a navigation beacon on or near the glacier. Icebreakers can also reach the glacier outlet by sea. With the need for climate change research I suspect visits to keep an eye on the glacier will continue.
Awesome map of Antarctica.
Physical geography:
Two Antarctica points in a row, what are the odds? About 1 in 10 actually, Antarctica is a big place, bigger than Europe or the United States. We've gone to the opposite side of the continent though, south of South America, and landing on the Pine Island Glacier, about 80 miles from its outlet into the Amundsen Sea. The glacier is not especially large by Antarctica standards, but it is very fast moving, giving it the distinction of dumping more ice into the ocean than any other individual glacier - 46 gigatonnes (46,000,000,000 tonnes) of ice per year! And thanks to climate change it has been accelerating, with a measured increase of 74% between 1974 and 2007. Part of this glaciers speed may be that it is being heated from below, there was a nearby volcanic eruption 2,200 years ago in the mostly, but not quite buried Hudson Mountains along the north side of the glacier and scientists have found that the volcanic heat source is still there underneath. A giant trench has opened up in recent years running down the center of the glacier, the Wikipedia page is definitely worth reading and includes some video. The ice is about 5,000 thick here, and it's still going to be all ice and snow on the surface. Temperatures are -10° F in summer, -30° in winter, not near the extremes in East Antarctica, but still cold enough you're not likely to see much life here.
Human geography:
We're in an unclaimed portion of Antarctica and by some measures it is even more remote than our previous point. It's a whopping 870 miles to the nearest permanent research station, U.K.'s Rothera station on the Antarctic Peninsula. The U.S. has had temporary camps studying the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would be a little closer at about 350 miles away, but thanks to it being at the forefront of climate change research we know the area near our point have definitely been visited, mostly by American and British research teams. The first documented visitor was Charles Bentley in 1961 on a research trip measuring ice thickness. His expedition was overland, numerous visits have been made since by air, landing on the glacier. Various teams have installed automated GPS stations, a weather station, and a navigation beacon on or near the glacier. Icebreakers can also reach the glacier outlet by sea. With the need for climate change research I suspect visits to keep an eye on the glacier will continue.
Awesome map of Antarctica.