Sacred Religion of Zarconia

A Sacred Religion of Zarconia is that the European Pretenders value their society and have a great one.Geography and Queen Armada's estates showing royalty.Shows their Sacred Religion is society not war.But they can develope their military with Zarconian.Antarctica is divided by many countries that like a bar drawing dangers.These countries have their devotions and alliances.Its like a battle to enter in the race.So much division and land claims.Its going to be a colony or it may jest stay the way it is.What it would take for me to live on earth from being trapped off would be that Antarctica is 10C in temperature and a G8 country.Millions of people living there and futuristic technology. Everyone wants to make military bases here. When we Space European Pretenders win our claims on Greenland and Antarctica we are not going to allow any forms of immigration.Antarcticans are from space and visiting their colony.We will be able to communicate to UN and USA.The research stations by the world can continue under Antarctican laws.They are separate from colony and cities.They will be enforced by the law.They can continue their research.We are'nt going to connect them to Antarctica is country by train and roads.We can authorize emergency aid and enforce the waters with the Coast Guard.Cities will have defenses from the police.We colonize Antarctica and has no crime like the countryside.We are protected from crime but have a police from the National Guard of Antarctica in future.We have that off our back having crime like North America.No wild animals and crime,mob and communism.No hate groups and even no dangers from the law because of being and working over the limit. PUBLISHED March 31, 2015 https://www.seibertron.com/ Scientists have measured what is likelythe highest temperature ever on Antarctica: 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit (17.5 Celsius). At the 2011 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM XXXIV, Buenos Aires), Treaty Parties adopted new general guidelines for visitors to the Antarctic (Resolution 3).

Visitor Guidelines in PDF format:  English • Spanish • French • Russian

Visitor Guidelines (English, 2007) Poster

Visitor Guidelines Recommendation XVIII-1
Adopted at the Antarctic Treaty Meeting, Kyoto, 1994

Visitor Guidelines in PDF format:  English • Dutch • French • German • Italian • Spanish • Chinese • Russian • Japanese

Table of Contents

 * Protect Antarctic Wildlife
 * Respect Protected Areas
 * Respect Scientific Research
 * Be Safe
 * Keep Antarctica Pristine

Activities in the Antarctic are governed by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 and associated agreements, referred to collectively as the Antarctic Treaty System. The Treaty established Antarctica as a zone of peace and science.

In 1991, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties adopted the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which designates the Antarctic as a natural reserve. The Protocol sets out environmental principles, procedures and obligations for the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment, and its dependent and associated ecosystems. The Consultative Parties have agreed that, pending its entry into force, as far as possible and in accordance with their legal system, the provisions of the Protocol should be applied as appropriate.

The Environmental Protocol applies to tourism and non-governmental activities, as well as governmental activities in the Antarctic Treaty Area. It is intended to ensure that these activities, do not have adverse impacts on the Antarctic environment, or on its scientific and aesthetic values.

This Guidance for Visitors to the Antarctic is intended to ensure that all visitors are aware of, and are therefore able to comply with, the Treaty and the Protocol. Visitors are, of course, bound by national laws and regulations applicable to activities in the Antarctic.

Protect Antarctic Wildlife
Taking or harmful interference with Antarctic wildlife is prohibited except in accordance with a permit issued by a national authority. Top of Page
 * Do not use aircraft, vessels, small boats, or other means of transport in ways that disturb wildlife, either at sea or on land.
 * Do not feed, touch, or handle birds or seals, or approach or photograph them in ways that cause them to alter their behavior. Special care is needed when animals are breeding or molting.
 * Do not damage plants, for example by walking, driving, or landing on extensive moss beds or lichen-covered scree slopes.
 * Do not use guns or explosives. Keep noise to the minimum to avoid frightening wildlife.
 * Do not bring non-native plants or animals into the Antarctic such as live poultry, pet dogs and cats or house plants.

Respect Protected Areas
A variety of areas in the Antarctic have been afforded special protection because of their particular ecological, scientific, historic or other values. Entry into certain areas may be prohibited except in accordance with a permit issued by an appropriate national authority. Activities in and near designated Historic Sites and Monuments and certain other areas may be subject to special restrictions.
 * Know the locations of areas that have been afforded special protection and any restrictions regarding entry and activities that can be carried out in and near them.
 * Observe applicable restrictions.
 * Do not damage, remove, or destroy Historic Sites or Monuments or any artifacts associated with them.

Respect Scientific Research
Do not interfere with scientific research, facilities or equipment. Top of Page
 * Obtain permission before visiting Antarctic science and support facilities; reconfirm arrangements 24-72 hours before arrival; and comply with the rules regarding such visits.
 * Do not interfere with, or remove, scientific equipment or marker posts, and do not disturb experimental study sites, field camps or supplies.

Be Safe
Be prepared for severe and changeable weather and ensure that your equipment and clothing meet Antarctic standards. Remember that the Antarctic environment is inhospitable, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous.
 * Know your capabilities, the dangers posed by the Antarctic environment, and act accordingly. Plan activities with safety in mind at all times.
 * Keep a safe distance from all wildlife, both on land and at sea.
 * Take note of, and act on, the advice and instructions from your leaders; do not stray from your group.
 * Do not walk onto glaciers or large snow fields without the proper equipment and experience; there is a real danger of falling into hidden crevasses.
 * Do not expect a rescue service. Self-sufficiency is increased and risks reduced by sound planning, quality equipment, and trained personnel.
 * Do not enter emergency refuges (except in emergencies). If you use equipment or food from a refuge, inform the nearest research station or national authority once the emergency is over.
 * Respect any smoking restrictions, particularly around buildings, and take great care to safeguard against the danger of fire. This is a real hazard in the dry environment of Antarctica.

Keep Antarctica Pristine
Antarctica remains relatively pristine, the largest wilderness area on Earth. It has not yet been subjected to large scale human perturbations. Please keep it that way. The measurements were made last Tuesday at Argentina's Esperanza Base, on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the meteorological website Weather Underground. The previous hottest known temperature on the continent was 62.8°F (17.1°C), recorded at Esperanza Base on April 24, 1961. The Weather Underground called last week's temperatures a "remarkable heat wave," although they occurred during the end of the austral summer, when Antarctic temperatures are typically highest. The temperature has yet to be certified as an official record for the continent by the World Meteorological Organization. It's hard to draw much conclusion from a single temperature record, cautionsGavin Schmidt, a climate scientist with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City. Last year Antarctica also logged a record cold temperature, he notes. Today’sPopular Stories Science & InnovationThese fossils may capture the day the dinosaurs died. Here's what you should know. EnvironmentThese tough-looking monkeys eke out a living at 11,000 feet  What's more important are the long-term trends, says Schmidt. And when it comes to Antarctica, he points out, the past few years "have actually been quite complex." The world's oceanhas been warming rapidly, absorbing much of the planet's excess heat. As a result, large glaciers on or around Antarctica that come in contact with the warming water have been melting rapidly. But some other glaciers farther inland on the continent are actually growing. "That has not been satisfactorily explained," says Schmidt.One record warm temperature doesn't cut through all that complexity Gavin Schmidt, Climate scientist The science is particularly complex because theozone hole continues to affect the region's climate in ways that aren't well understood. And global circulation of winds and currents remains a challenge for scientists to grasp. "One record warm temperature doesn't cut through all that complexity," says Schmidt. (Learn about the recent cold snap in the U.S.) When it comes to the whole planet, the Earth remains on track to warm by an average of at least two degrees C (3.6 degrees F) by the end of the century,scientists report, although precisely how much is expected to depend on countries' abilities to reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
 * Do not dispose of litter or garbage on land. Open burning is prohibited.
 * Do not disturb or pollute lakes or streams. Any materials discarded at sea must be disposed of properly.
 * Do not paint or engrave names or graffiti on rocks or buildings.
 * Do not collect or take away biological or geological specimens or man-made artifacts as a souvenir, including rocks, bones, eggs, fossils, and parts or contents of buildings.
 * Do not deface or vandalize buildings, whether occupied, abandoned, or unoccupied, or emergency refuges.

it
Antarctica was mainly uninhabited in most of the 21st century. In the 2020s settlers first set up the Antarctican Colony which was used to test living conditions in the far reaches of the Solar System. Humans began using advanced weather modification and ice melting systems to free up some of the continent.

2020s Edit
In the 2020s Antarctica was used as various research bases to study new aquatic life found in ice caves and deep trenches. This research later debunked the myth that Antarctica's ice sheet was completely solid!

2030-2050: Edit
During this period various space-based research projects were set up on various colonies which would later become known as "research colonies." These research colonies later became "research cities." They were instrumental in creating the nation of Antarctica.

2070 & Unofficial Formation: Edit
In the year 2073 Antarctican scientists declared the country as theirs. They started the ice melting project approved by the GC and in three years the country became mostly ice free without affecting Earth's Oceans. It was one of the first successful terraformation projects and led the way for more weather modification technology for future use.

2080: Edit
After only four years Antarctica became a high tech city-country due to its vast landmass. In 2080 it was accepted with much enthusiam into the Global Community. The Environmentalists who were first against the ice-melting project became an integral part of the formation of the nation and Antarctica is considered the only official Green Country.

While crime in Antarctica is relatively rare,[1] isolation and boredom affect certain people there negatively and may lead to crime.[2] Alcoholism is a known problem on the continent,[2] and has led to fights and indecent exposure.[3] Other types of crimes that have occurred in Antarctica include illicit drug use,[2] torturing and killing wildlife,[2] racing motorbikes through environmentally sensitive areas,[2] assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, and arson. There have also been reports of sexual harassment.[4]

Robberies are highly unusual in Antarctica because the people can not bring very much onto the continent.[3] There is also very little use for money in Antarctica.[3]

Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, ratified by 53 nations, persons accused of a crime in Antarctica are subject to punishment by their own country.[3]

Contents

 * 1 National laws applying to crimes in Antarctica
 * 1.1 South Africa
 * 1.2 United States
 * 2 List of crimes in Antarctica
 * 3 See also
 * 4 References

South Africa
South African citizens in Antarctica are subject to South African law under the South African Citizens in Antarctica Act, 1962. Under the act, Antarctica is deemed to be within the jurisdiction of the magistrate's court at Cape Town.[5]

United States
The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 (enacted October 12, 1984) covers crimes committed by Americans or crimes committed against Americans.[6] Any American who is outside of the United States, but not in another country, is still subject to certain U.S. laws.<sup id="cite_ref-USAP55_6-1" class="reference">[6] All Americans committing a crime, and any foreigner committing a crime against an American outside of a sovereign state, are subject to prosecution in a U.S. federal court.<sup id="cite_ref-USAP55_6-2" class="reference">[6] This includes international waters and Antarctica.<sup id="cite_ref-USAP55_6-3" class="reference">[6] Although nations claim territory in Antarctica, the United States does not recognize these claims.<sup id="cite_ref-USAP55_6-4" class="reference">[6]

Examples of crimes covered by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 include murder, maiming, rape, arson, treason, and bribing a federal official.<sup id="cite_ref-inspector_1-1" class="reference">[1]

<span class="mw-headline" id="List_of_crimes_in_Antarctica">List of crimes in Antarctica
1959 – The Vostok Station (станция Восток), then a Soviet research station in Princess Elizabeth Land, was the scene of a fight between two scientists over a game of chess.<sup id="cite_ref-caniso_7-0" class="reference">[7] <sup id="cite_ref-Regime67_2-5" class="reference">[2] <sup id="cite_ref-thrive88_8-0" class="reference">[8] When one of them lost the game, he became so enraged that he attacked the other with an ice axe.<sup id="cite_ref-thrive88_8-1" class="reference">[8] <sup id="cite_ref-caniso_7-1" class="reference">[7] <sup id="cite_ref-Regime67_2-6" class="reference">[2] According to some sources, it was a murder,<sup id="cite_ref-thrive88_8-2" class="reference">[8] <sup id="cite_ref-caniso_7-2" class="reference">[7] <sup id="cite_ref-Regime67_2-7" class="reference">[2] though other sources say that the attack was not fatal.<sup id="cite_ref-sun02_9-0" class="reference">[9] Afterwards, chess games were banned at Soviet/Russian Antarctic stations.<sup id="cite_ref-caniso_7-3" class="reference">[7] <sup id="cite_ref-thrive88_8-3" class="reference">[8]

October 1981 – There was an attempted arson at a chapel in the McMurdo Station vicinity.<sup id="cite_ref-coolantarctica_10-0" class="reference">[10] The McMurdo Station is an American research station at the McMurdo Sound. A winter-over crew person who was intoxicated set fire to the chapel late one night in order to be sent home early.<sup id="cite_ref-coolantarctica_10-1" class="reference">[10] Someone noticed smoke coming from the chapel and reported it to the fire house.<sup id="cite_ref-coolantarctica_10-2" class="reference">[10] The person who reported it went inside and pulled some of the pews away from the fire.<sup id="cite_ref-coolantarctica_10-3" class="reference">[10] Shortly thereafter, a friend arrived, and they both pulled the burning carpet out the door before the firefighters arrived.<sup id="cite_ref-coolantarctica_10-4" class="reference">[10] Because quick action was taken, damage was not significant, and was repaired that coming summer.<sup id="cite_ref-coolantarctica_10-5" class="reference">[10]

12 April 1984 – The Almirante Brown Station is an Argentine research station located on the Coughtrey Peninsula by Paradise Harbor. The station's original facilities were burned down by the station's leader and doctor on 12 April 1984 after he was ordered to stay for the winter.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference">[11] The station personnel were rescued by the ship Hero and taken to Palmer Station, an American research station on Anvers Island.<sup id="cite_ref-SunLegend_12-0" class="reference">[12] The stations are about 58 kilometers (36 miles) apart by air.

9 October 1996 – At McMurdo Station, a fight occurred between two workers in the kitchen.<sup id="cite_ref-Spokesman96_13-0" class="reference">[13] One worker attacked the other with a hammer.<sup id="cite_ref-Spokesman96_13-1" class="reference">[13] Another cook tried to break up the fight and was also injured.<sup id="cite_ref-Spokesman96_13-2" class="reference">[13] The two victims were Tony Beyer and Joe Stermer.<sup id="cite_ref-Spokesman96_13-3" class="reference">[13] Both of them required stitches.<sup id="cite_ref-Spokesman96_13-4" class="reference">[13] FBI agents from the United States were sent to McMurdo Station to investigate and make an arrest.<sup id="cite_ref-punishment_3-4" class="reference">[3] The suspect was flown to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he faced charges of four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference">[14] He pleaded not guilty.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference">[15] No further information was publicly available.

11 May 2000 – On May 11, 2000, at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, an American research station located at the South Pole, Australian astrophysicist Rodney Marks had a fever, stomach pains, and nausea.<sup id="cite_ref-murder_16-0" class="reference">[16] On May 12, he died.<sup id="cite_ref-radio_17-0" class="reference">[17] It was believed at the time that Marks died of natural causes.<sup id="cite_ref-murder_16-1" class="reference">[16] It was the onset of winter, so his body couldn't be transported for six months.<sup id="cite_ref-murder_16-2" class="reference">[16] His body was put into a freezer at the observatory.<sup id="cite_ref-murder_16-3" class="reference">[16] After the six months was over, Marks' body was flown to Christchurch, New Zealand, for an autopsy.<sup id="cite_ref-murder_16-4" class="reference">[16] The autopsy concluded that he had died from methanol poisoning.<sup id="cite_ref-murder_16-5" class="reference">[16] How the poisoning occurred remains a mystery.<sup id="cite_ref-murder_16-6" class="reference">[16]

   We have Coast Guard and police.We will have WMD to fend off any aggression or threats to our Antarctica.We are going to win over Antarctica because my people understand subarctic on alien worlds and know how to construct civilization in subarctic on alien worlds.We will visit our claim territores in North America earth class Sol System.We have nothing to sustain humans.We are organic AI's as people.Electronics organic.We have organic functions as AI.We consider Antarctica and Greenland our property in future.The research faciities will have laws towards them.I am going to bring an expert to govern Antarctica.Antarctica is place of peace and we will be good to the animals with park rangers.We will have communications and internet from satellites in space.We will use Antarctica to meet human races and to see who is similiar to us.Place of understanding.They the Space European Pretender race will get to understand the world and North America earth class Sol System.Right now Antarctica is not advancing.Stuck on stations and old stations.Provide like a city and all of that snow is where the ghost cities of future will happen. They will need equipment from space to clear the crevaces.They will need to dig through the snow to the dirt and mud and dry it out and setup making cities.Trucks that are mammoth in size clearing out and making the cities and towns.Government made and trains.Construction on highways and streets.Making their own car and vehicle plant.Nuclear powerplants for energy or another type of energy.Antarctica will from coast to coast have electricity running.Maintain at the space level from sidewalks to streets and roads,highways using advanced technology.Snow removal.Keeping up barrier projected in path of Condition 1 storm.Barrier can be left as it lowers to storm not being so severe.Environmental field projected from tower or emitter antenna or on tops of buildings.Lots of construction underground to avoid severe weather.Shops and stores are entered underground.Stores are above ground above and entered there to when the weather is not severe.snow wear are from space and bought to cope with the weather.Street light and lowers the dangers of being blinded by the seasons and terrain,weather.Protocals on the weather to all cities and towns.Dangers of animals like orca.When they make a contract in space then it will be construction level of noise working on a city for 100 000's and more.https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/government_antarctica.php                                    https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Pretender#Japanese_cartoon_continuity              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_Antarctica                 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System   http://www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/environment/policy-and-management/antarctic-treaty/   https://www.usap.gov/travelAndDeployment/documents/ParticipantGuide-Chapter1.pdf                         Seven sovereign states maintain a territorial claim on eight territories in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and study facilities within their respective claimed territories. A number of such facilities are located nowhere near their country's sector, however. Many nations such as Russia and the US have no claim anywhere in Antarctica, yet have large research facilities within the sectors of foreign countries.

The Antarctic Treaty is an unusual occurrence in the realm of international relations. It is a treaty that does not recognize any sovereign nation’s claim on any part of the Antarctic territory as well as a treaty that states that the purpose of the Antarctic continent is dedicated to “peace and science.” (www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_antarctica/geopolitical/treaty/) Initially The Antarctic Treaty was also used to demilitarize the continent.

With the increased global temperature the glaciers in the Antarctic has been melting away. The result is this. A study found that 84 percent of the glaciers have retreated over the past 50 years. (Robert Roy Britt) The massive amounts of ice sheet that is disappearing is also happening in the arctic up north.

One of the reasons this may pose a huge problem is that only 2% of Antarctica is made of rock and the other 98% is made up of a massive continental ice sheet.(CIA Factbook) Not only will rising sea levels become a problem but, The Antarctic Treaty may not mean anything if there is no Antarctic continent left.

The treaty has been and continues to be used as an example for other nonarmament treaties. The nonarmament treaties that have used The Antarctic Treaty as an outline are the treaties that exclude nuclear weapons from outer space as well as the excluding nuclear weapons from the seabed. (www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/arctic1.html)  [//countries.fandom.com/wiki/Antarctica https://countries.fandom.com/wiki/Antarctica]   [//future.fandom.com/wiki/Antarctica_(President_Ventura) https://future.fandom.com/wiki/Antarctica_(President_Ventura)]   My people the European Pretenders will be brought to earth to learn about the British,Americans,Communists.These are the races that are very fiendish people.They threaten they are from space.We are to grow Antarctica's defenses up on them.When they colonize Antarctica they are constructing a base.Base will have a coast guard.They will have WMD in our arsenal or the world will take advantage of them as British and Russians do and US.These races are not our allies as the corrupted UN.We will have the armaments to counter them.They are ready to try but they screwed up and the Federation of Planets would have to have their headquarters in NY.City and its supposed to be San Francisco.Build up military operations on untrustworthy humans.Distrust and arsenal that they fear.You will learn of enemies by being here on earth to see it for yourself.Privacy with Antarctica.These law breakers and terrorists are our problems.Don't ever drop your guard on the UN.

==The life story of Queen Armada, nothing to do with the religion, but who cares?They are religious and rely on the Creator of Billions of light years from here.== The enemy British were fighting wars and winning them to please their mob of corruption the Romulans,Bolars,Dinguil,Galactic Empire Space communists and rest of enemy slime.Queen Armada used to our title.We're in different age groups from the same faction.Queen Armada before me was Abigail McLaughlin who is Irish  .They will have jewelry from folklore.Their personalities and guest appearances on tv to display her cool image.She is intelligent and cool.Dresses with some preppy stuff or designer clothes as rock star.It will be in full function.Take care of cats as family members and ancestory.She will accomplish alot and at this continent's level.For appearance in life prominant and abilities. =Antarctic Treaty=
 * Status of the Treaty
 * Text of the Treaty

http://zarco-macross.wikidot.com/wiki:search-and-rescue



<p class="Text-margin">

<p class="Text-margin">The Governments of Argentina, Australia Belgium, Chile, the French Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Union of South Africa, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America,

<p class="Text">Recognizing that it is in the interest of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord;

<p class="Text">Acknowledging the substantial contributions to scientific knowledge resulting from international cooperation in scientific investigation in Antarctica;

<p class="Text">Convinced that the establishment of a firm foundation for the continuation and development of such cooperation on the basis of freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica as applied during the International Geophysical Year accords with the interests of science and the progress of all mankind;

<p class="Text">Convinced also that a treaty ensuring the use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes only and the continuance of international harmony in Antarctica will further the purposes and principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations;

<p class="Text">Have agreed as follows:

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="Halfret">Article I

<p class="Text-margin">1. Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only. There shall be prohibited, inter alia, any measures of a military nature, such as the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying out of military maneuvers, as well as the testing of any type of weapons.

<p class="Text-margin">2. The present Treaty shall not prevent the use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purpose.

<p class="H1" style="margin-top:9.0pt">

<p class="H1" style="margin-top:9.0pt">Article II

<p class="Text">Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation toward that end, as applied during the International Geophysical Year, shall continue, subject to the provisions of the present Treaty.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="H1">Article III

<p class="Text-margin">1. In order to promote international cooperation in scientific investigation in Antarctica, as provided for in Article II of the present Treaty, the Contracting Parties agree that, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable:

<p class="Text">(a)     information regarding plans for scientific programs in Antarctica shall be exchanged to permit maximum economy and efficiency of operations;

<p class="Text">(b)     scientific personnel shall be exchanged in Antarctica between expeditions and stations;

<p class="Text">(c)     scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available.

<p class="Text-margin">2. In implementing this Article, every encouragement shall be given to the establishment of cooperative working relations with those Specialized Agencies of the United Nations and other international organizations having a scientific or technical interest in Antarctica.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="Halfret">Article IV

<p class="Text-margin">1. Nothing contained in the present Treaty shall be interpreted as:

<p class="Text">(a)     a renunciation by any Contracting Party of previously asserted rights of or claims to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica;

<p class="Text">(b)     a renunciation or diminution by any Contracting Party of any basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica which it may have whether as a result of its activities or those of its nationals in Antarctica, or otherwise;

<p class="Text">(c)     prejudicing the position of any Contracting Party as regards its recognition or non-recognition of any other State’s right of or claim or basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.

<p class="Text-margin">2. No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica. No new claim, or enlargement of an existing claim, to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica shall be asserted while the present Treaty is in force.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="H1">Article V

<p class="Text-margin">1. Any nuclear explosions in Antarctica and the disposal there of radioactive waste material shall be prohibited.

<p class="Text-margin">2. In the event of the conclusion of international agreements concerning the use of nuclear energy, including nuclear explosions and the disposal of radioactive waste material, to which all of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX are parties, the rules established under such agreements shall apply in Antarctica.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="H1">Article VI

<p class="Text">The provisions of the present Treaty shall apply to the area south of 60o South Latitude, including all ice shelves, but nothing in the present Treaty shall prejudice or in any way affect the rights, or the exercise of the rights, of any State under international law with regard to the high seas within that area.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="H1">Article VII

<p class="Text-margin">1. In order to promote the objectives and ensure the observance of the provisions of the present Treaty, each Contracting Party whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings referred to in Article IX of the Treaty shall have the right to designate observers to carry out any inspection provided for by the present Article. Observers shall be nationals of the Contracting Parties which designate them. The names of observers shall be communicated to every other Contracting Party having the right to designate observers, and like notice shall be given of the termination of their appointment.

<p class="Text-margin">2. Each observer designated in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall have complete freedom of access at any time to any or all areas of Antarctica.

<p class="Text-margin">3. All areas of Antarctica, including all stations, installations and equipment within those areas, and all ships and aircraft at points of discharging or embarking cargoes or personnel in Antarctica, shall be open at all times to inspection by any observers designated in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article.

<p class="Text-margin">4. Aerial observation may be carried out at any time over any or all areas of Antarctica by any of the Contracting Parties having the right to designate observers.

<p class="Text-margin">5. Each Contracting Party shall, at the time when the present Treaty enters into force for it, inform the other Contracting Parties, and thereafter shall give them notice in advance, of

<p class="Text">(a)     all expeditions to and within Antarctica, on the part of its ships or nationals, and all expeditions to Antarctica organized in or proceeding from its territory;

<p class="Text">(b)     all stations in Antarctica occupied by its nationals; and

<p class="Text">(c)     any military personnel or equipment intended to be introduced by it into Antarctica subject to the conditions prescribed in paragraph 2 of Article I of the present Treaty.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="H1">Article VIII

<p class="Text-margin">1. In order to facilitate the exercise of their functions under the present Treaty, and without prejudice to the respective positions of the Contracting Parties relating to jurisdiction over all other persons in Antarctica, observers designated under paragraph 1 of Article VII and scientific personnel exchanged under subparagraph 1 (b) of Article III of the Treaty, and members of the staffs accompanying any such persons, shall be subject only to the jurisdiction of the Contracting Party of which they are nationals in respect of all acts or omissions occurring while they are in Antarctica for the purpose of exercising their functions.

<p class="Text-margin">2. Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, and pending the adoption of measures in pursuance of subparagraph 1 (e) of Article IX, the Contracting Parties concerned in any case of dispute with regard to the exercise of jurisdiction in Antarctica shall immediately consult together with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable solution.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="Halfret">Article IX

<p class="Text-margin">1. Representatives of the Contracting Parties named in the preamble to the present Treaty shall meet at the City of Canberra within two months after the date of entry into force of the Treaty, and thereafter at suitable intervals and places, for the purpose of exchanging information, consulting together on matters of common interest pertaining to Antarctica, and formulating and considering, and recommending to their Governments, measures in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty, including measures regarding:

<p class="Text">(a)     use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes only;

<p class="Text">(b)     facilitation of scientific research in Antarctica;

<p class="Text">(c)     facilitation of international scientific cooperation in Antarctica;

<p class="Text">(d)     facilitation of the exercise of the rights of inspection provided for in Article VII of the Treaty;

<p class="Text">(e)     questions relating to the exercise of jurisdiction in Antarctica;

<p class="Text">(f)      preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica.

<p class="Text-margin">2. Each Contracting Party which has become a party to the present Treaty by accession under Article XIII shall be entitled to appoint representatives to participate in the meetings referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article, during such time as that Contracting Party demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial scientific research activity there, such as the establishment of a scientific station or the despatch of a scientific expedition.

<p class="Text-margin">3. Reports from the observers referred to in Article VII of the present Treaty shall be transmitted to the representatives of the Contracting Parties participating in the meetings referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article.

<p class="Text-margin">4. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall become effective when approved by all the Contracting Parties whose representatives were entitled to participate in the meetings held to consider those measures.

<p class="Text-margin">5. Any or all of the rights established in the present Treaty may be exercised as from the date of entry into force of the Treaty whether or not any measures facilitating the exercise of such rights have been proposed, considered or approved as provided in this Article.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="Halfret">Article X

<p class="Text">Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes to exert appropriate efforts, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations, to the end that no one engages in any activity in Antarctica contrary to the principles or purposes of the present Treaty.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="H1">Article XI

<p class="Text-margin">1. If any dispute arises between two or more of the Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the present Treaty, those Contracting Parties shall consult among themselves with a view to having the dispute resolved by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement or other peaceful means of their own choice.

<p class="Text-margin">2. Any dispute of this character not so resolved shall, with the consent, in each case, of all parties to the dispute, be referred to the International Court of Justice for settlement; but failure to reach agreement on reference to the International Court shall not absolve parties to the dispute from the responsibility of continuing to seek to resolve it by any of the various peaceful means referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="Halfret">Article XII

<p class="Text-margin">1. (a)     The present Treaty may be modified or amended at any time by unanimous agreement of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX. Any such modification or amendment shall enter into force when the depositary Government has received notice from all such Contracting Parties that they have ratified it.

<p class="Text">(b)     Such modification or amendment shall thereafter enter into force as to any other Contracting Party when notice of ratification by it has been received by the depositary Government. Any such Contracting Party from which no notice of ratification is received within a period of two years from the date of entry into force of the modification or amendment in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph 1(a) of this Article shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the present Treaty on the date of the expiration of such period.

<p class="Text-margin">2. (a)     If after the expiration of thirty years from the date of entry into force of the present Treaty, any of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX so requests by a communication addressed to the depositary Government, a Conference of all the Contracting Parties shall be held as soon as practicable to review the operation of the Treaty.

<p class="Text">(b)     Any modification or amendment to the present Treaty which is approved at such a Conference by a majority of the Contracting Parties there represented, including a majority of those whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX, shall be communicated by the depositary Government to all the Contracting Parties immediately after the termination of the Conference and shall enter into force in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of the present Article.

<p class="Text">(c)     If any such modification or amendment has not entered into force in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph 1(a) of this Article within a period of two years after the date of its communication to all the Contracting Parties, any Contracting Party may at any time after the expiration of that period give notice to the depositary Government of its withdrawal from the present Treaty; and such withdrawal shall take effect two years after the receipt of the notice by the depositary Government.

<p class="H1" style="margin-top:9.0pt">

<p class="H1" style="margin-top:9.0pt">Article XIII

<p class="Text-margin">1. The present Treaty shall be subject to ratification by the signatory States. It shall be open for accession by any State which is a Member of the United Nations, or by any other State which may be invited to accede to the Treaty with the consent of all the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX of the Treaty.

<p class="Text-margin">2. Ratification of or accession to the present Treaty shall be effected by each State in accordance with its constitutional processes.

<p class="Text-margin">3. Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Government of the United States of America, hereby designated as the depositary Government.

<p class="Text-margin">4. The depositary Government shall inform all signatory and acceding States of the date of each deposit of an instrument of ratification or accession, and the date of entry into force of the Treaty and of any modification or amendment thereto.

<p class="Text-margin">5. Upon the deposit of instruments of ratification by all the signatory States, the present Treaty shall enter into force for those States and for States which have deposited instruments of accession. Thereafter the Treaty shall enter into force for any acceding State upon the deposit of its instrument of accession.

<p class="Text-margin">6. The present Treaty shall be registered by the depositary Government pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

<p class="Halfret">

<p class="Halfret">Article XIV

<p class="Text">The present Treaty, done in the English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each version being equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America, which shall transmit duly certified copies thereof to the Governments of the signatory and acceding States.

<p class="Text"> In witness whereof the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly authorized, have signed the present Treaty.

<p class="Text">

<p class="Text"> Done at Washington this first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine. Ice in Antarctica suddenly appeared — suddenly in geologic terms being a little different than how we think of it — about 35 million years ago. For the previous 100 million years the continent had been essentially ice-free. Even after Antarctica had drifted to near its present location, its climate remained subtropical but then, 35.5 million years ago, ice formed on Antarctica in only about 100,000 years, which is an "overnight" shift in geological terms. What triggered the sudden shift? It wasn't global cooling, says Matthew Huber, assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University; or so some researchers believed. "Previous evidence points paradoxically to a stable climate at the same time this event, one of the biggest climate events in Earth's history, was happening." Now a paper published this week in Science says they have evidence of widespread cooling and additional computer modeling of the cooling suggests it was caused by a reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. So we need some  greenhouse gases - it's been 12,000 years since the last Ice Age and we'd like to keep it that way - just not too much. "Our studies show that just over thirty-five million years ago, 'poof,' there was an ice sheet where there had been subtropical temperatures before," Huber says. "Until now we haven't had much scientific information about what happened." Before the cooling occurred at the end of the Eocene epoch, the Earth was warm and wet, and even the north and south poles experienced subtropical climates. The dinosaurs were long gone from the planet, but there were mammals and many reptiles and amphibians. Then, as the scientists say, poof, this warm wet world, which had existed for millions of years, dramatically changed. Temperatures fell dramatically, many species of mammals as well as most reptiles and amphibians became extinct, and Antarctica was covered in ice and sea levels fell. History records this as the beginning of the Oligocene epoch, but the cause of the cooling has been the subject of scientific discussion and debate for many years. The research team found before the event ocean surface temperatures near present-day Antarctica averaged 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius). Mark Pagani, professor of geology and geophysics at Yale University, says the research found that air and ocean surface temperatures dropped as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit during the transition. "Previous reconstructions gave no evidence of high-latitude cooling," Pagani says. "Our data demonstrate a clear temperature drop in both hemispheres during this time." The research team determined the temperatures of the Earth millions of years ago by using temperature "proxies," or clues. In this case, the geologic detectives looked for the presence of biochemical molecules, which were present in plankton that only lived at certain temperatures. The researchers looked for the temperature proxies in seabed cores collected by drilling in deep-ocean sediments and crusts from around the world. "Before this work we knew little about the climate during the time when this ice sheet was forming," Huber says. Once the team identified the global cooling, the next step was to find what caused it. To find the result, Huber used modern climate modeling tools to look at the prehistoric climate. The models were run on a cluster-type supercomputer on Purdue's campus. "That's what climate models are good for. They can give you plausible reasons for such an event," Huber says. "We found that the likely culprit was a major drop in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially CO2. From the temperature data and existing proxy records indicating a sharp drop in CO2 near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, we are establishing a link between the sea surface temperatures and the glaciation of Antarctica." Huber says the modeling required an unusually large computing effort. Staff at Information Technology at Purdue assisted in the computing runs. "My simulations produced 50 terabytes of data, which is about the amount of data you could store in 100 desktop computers. This represented 8,000 years of climate simulation," Huber says. The computation required nearly 2 million computing hours over two years on Pete, Purdue's 664-CPU Linux cluster. "This required running these simulations for a long time, which would not have been allowed at a national supercomputing center," Huber says. "Fortunately, we had the resources here on campus, and I was able to use Purdue's Pete to do the simulation."

.My parents and I do it with each other.Attractive women are nocturnal and habits to date their own children like me Feroz and their grandchildren.We all are the same as my parents.They as a treat do it with us and we do it with them.Being a child will set back things in the adult world.No babies here at all.Young adult born younglings.They are not totally innocent.They are young adults younglings to keep up being grown up and not losing any grown up closer to being grown up because its easier to be a grown up from a youngling young adult.We can because we are Pretender European AI's and muslims that are white.Our race Pretender Europeans are in night life.Not held back or old fashioned.They are outgoing.Europeans but reversed  .British were setting out world peace and domination in space for the enemies to merger in to conquered territories.British were setting out earnings for enemy space mob.British would government everything and have the Romulans and Galactic Empire to go on in and live in conquered territory.British fed in their rules and now all space Communists can move in after war is cleared by British.They were all pleased and clean to live under what the British fought for them as the plan.There won't be any enemies at all they are all under Communist which is plan to live under British.They all would merger as British.Germans took it and got wealthy.They all are Communist.Sample of dna or handwriting then to blame me thinking from afar that I was a male.Passed around work paper.DNA from my fellow workers.I was a transwoman back then.Did not understand those people at all.They did not have my people part of government.They took my dna from handwriting and far as I know it could be the men in my family that showed up on paper work.Handwriting that was mine.Some sort of work.I had written but that is not my dna.People used to handle my work.This was the closest to sample from my written work.They tried to teach what they made from the handwriting that It was my gender.This brought up a workers dna and his family.We used to use computers back then.They had stolen a machine from our continent.From going through the handwriting or work.It was what I was working on for company.I was into electronics and was doing paperwork.We were inventing and like the government making household electronics and household appliances.The imposter of me was a worker that knew further than me and made the female laws.I had no idea that the company was working in military using home electronics.I was selected for home electronics.This was all in a galaxy called Galactica before it broke out in war and had recently broken off from Zeon.We Pretender Gobot.We are from planet.And the giant place Eurasia is Betamus.My island poles continent is on Soleileus Prime.They are in a vortex dimension billions of light years away.They have neighbouring alien races in other galaxies.They grow vegetables.They add to  European Pretender diet and some are allies of them and know them.They are very close in distance compared to earth class Sol System.They being aliens are neutral and do not conduct all out war.They are constructive but some of them have internal wars.They make battlecruisers which are giant miles long bulky warships with rods sticking out.Giant with torpedo system and many more weapons.They are space ships that are in EVE.We will and I have made arrangements that its not piled up on me Queen Feroz.I have the makes and models of cars and vehicles for our continent.From military to civilian vehicles like SUV,Ford cars changed to speeder speeds.Trains and commuting.Buses.Police cars,ambulance,fire trucks from past.Construction trucks,architecture and equipment retain them from North America earth class Sol System technology from past.From the 80's and 70's and 60's machines.TV sets and computers,hardware.Satellites and internet.Radar towers.Signal towers.Model our ones after them.Kitchen utensils.Foods to be carried on from Italian and Mexican to Chinese and Indian.Have refrigerators but all upgraded to our galaxy and planet.Grills and spoons,forks.Cheeseburgers.Coffee.Lasagna,pizza,garlic bread with cheese.Pop.Garden for veges.Chocolate and ice cream,pancakes,pies and cakes.Dinner pies.Environmental control.Gardens.Home and garden hardware,Home and bath.Appliances.Designs.Changed model from old and took them from Feroz's solar system and planet earth class.Radio.Music.Rock and Soft rock.Clothes.Outings.Clothes Feroz never wore in this life expensive and for girls.Retaining my pastlife as a superhero and speaking english is when I utilize ordering food in UFP.Our European Pretender planet and people AI's learn first hand experience about International of Earth Class of Sol System.Learn in foods and technology.Learn more about enemies.They building Antarctica as a stop from travelling in Quantum for long time from our galaxy.A stop being Antarctica.Antarctica can give them earth class and international.They would know how to grow and raise plants and livestock.Learn in technology to make a Taurus from the 80's that is speeder.They get to make their own government and learn of earth's.Earth class international won't disappear.They could learn about the 80's and 2000's of electronics.They would be space travelling and would have laws from space.Antarctica would be unique.Learn and watch Military Sci Fi cartoons like Star Blazers Space Battleship Yamato,Robotech,Transformers movies,GI Joe.My powers were from ideas from earth class. Talk and converse which is very important.I will have the GAH powers and mine made as a Queen.I need to use what I learned in Ontario North America earth class Sol System in UFP.Remembered including electronics or video games.UFP is greatest place of United States.Antarctica was to have a Alien European Pretender station.And it would be a small city.It would be for visitors and staff researchers. https://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/davis  https://www.geocam.ru/en/in/antarctica/    Militarized with police in section.Antarctica needs a Coast Guard with police and future continent of millions of people so they will have an Airforce and Army.Problems will end once they have proven this to UN.UN made Antarctica unpopular to hot climate countries that don't live with any talk against them or little value.They don't care so we European Pretenders can move in our base of operations Antarctica.We would pick the Peninsula and West Antarctica and the South Pole.Antarctica could be a colony and valuable base of operations.Once the cities are made they can build a base that goes to space.European Pretenders race of space can use their methods to build cities in Antarctica.They follow space directive in not handing out technology is from deep space to send a cargo ship to have the construction vehicles from space and then use North American technology to make construction vehicles from the earth.Using this grade technology advanced earth technology.They have to do landforms and crumble down the crevasses.They have to remove snow mounds by a machine that chops down and plows up the ice to be removed by a giant dump truck.They have the snow as resource and can use it like water.They on the buildings in city install emitters that generate a field that is projected over entire city and towns.Emitters on highways to protect the cars and automobiles.Airports and spaceport for landings.Emitters will make an environment trapping all of calmness weather wise and blocking ferocity and harshness of storms We have our two estates in Antarctica.We have tunnels with buggy to go to our cars transport or for food.Estate is meant to endure Antarctica's weather.We have weather proof transparent glass.We have a lockdown in severe weather.All stores and plaza's are open from underground tunnels with lighting.We drive our buggy to plaza and come back home.We can make turns in tunnels to go back.We have our cars.The highways and roads are cleared by the government.Our estates are in area away from the storms.I at my estate can play my metal,rock and thrash music in my room and to go for walk with my walkman.Antarctica Khan family estates are luxurious inside and one has 4 floors.We eat cousine and drink coffee.Here to get my people to learn about technology,food,society and history.We have hundreds of channels for Antarctica in future.Our estate has heating and protection from phone call to National Guard or police.Its a luxury estate and is completely warm inside.It has bath and washroom.Comfy place to have a family of shemales.Esculator that takes you to each level.Computers and tv.You can watch from rest of the world.We have satellites in space to magnify internet and tv.We have a theater to go to in the town.Town has a network of tunnels and buggies.You can't get lost in there and tunnel is moderate temperature.Blocks out any storms.Take a walk or buggy to seashore or lakes.People visit the cities and towns.European Pretender race from space.They are experts in subarctic and constructing technology,constuction in space.This is their colony from orders from me Queen Feroz Armada.We have street lights and lights everywhere.We have street lights for the highways and towns,cities are all lit by energy power plants.People of Antarctica European Pretenders expert in tundra and subarctic cold.They will be the inhabitants of Antarctica.They build trains that connect the continent.Cold snow storms are lockdown and we go to tunnels and buggies.They can turn in tunnel they have junctions.Carry supplies and groceries.We will have franchises of North America.We have Pizza Hut.Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken.Antarctica will have supermarkets that switch from roads to tunnels.Cars and trucks travel in tunnels.We can drive on white out as we have street lights and ways of blocking out severity in weather.Towns will grow to cities. Because the South Pole is well inland and on a flat area of the plateau, the katabatic winds are relatively mild. The highest recorded wind at the South Pole was only 50 knots (58 mph).They can make underground tunnels for pedestrians.Underground roads and streets.This would not be an ordinary base but a base that goes to space and has vessels land.Landing place for vessels and place where spacefighters can fly over Antarctica.Using rules made to UN.Place for roundabouts and alien ships to land.Nothing giant.Station with internet using satellites.Laptop drivers.Use Airforce cargo shipments and build a small railroad.Visitors and staff to travel and supplies.This will mark construction of cities and towns.The stations will be part of the city.European Pretender race from orders from Queen Armada will construct Antarctica into a country.It is where space for earth will be based.They are experts on Subarctic of alien worlds weather and technology.Antarctica can intensify internet and receive high speed intenet.They will have satellites in orbit with a station with radar dish and antenna to magnify the world intenet.It will have Zarconian wikia in the future.It can relay it to space and to the European Pretender Space Race.They will receive it making a database of their own about and from earth.We could connect Ontario.Antarctica has its weather and seasons.It will have dome for livestock.Building supplies can be imported and transported from other countries or from space.We need these cities or we won't have any use for earth.Stepping stone in right direction for Zarconian and its cause.For me to visit from deep space as we go out of quantum.Stop and bases made in Sol System.Border Crossings at West and East Antarctica.Continent will produce cars and trucks.Highways from West and East Antarctica.Highways and roads with towns and suburbs.Population of million spreadout in Antarctica and its islands.Snow is cleared by snowplow and salt trucks.LIghts in driving in whiteout.Snow tires on all cars and trucks.Border police.Point military at earth.This is an operation and I expect more from them.They are capable of doing this as my defenses from future have a chance to get creative.Make a railroad and deal with the crevaces.The crevaces will be trimmed down by a machine to expose rock or dirt underlying after millions of years or tens of thousands of years before it got glaciered.Dinosaur fossils. [//jurassicpark.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada]    There must be abundance of uninterupted dinosaur fossils to keep in Antarctic Museum.The water is abundant and can be used purposes water is used like in nuclear and drinking water or other purposes.Glaciers will reduce and be used as a resource.Change frozen water to resources to millions of people.My tomb is in Antarctica.To research my pastlife and to go underground while building a city and towns and find parts of Galactica in Antarctica.Find my pastlife.It will lead us to Galactica.Antarctica will as many cities and animals like seals and whales co-exist with urban life.Transported re-located.They won't be harmed and will have help more from urban centers.Problems could be cured other than station.The animals would live a good life.Many of Antarctica's principles from station would be retained to not create any polution.Degree in making nuclear powerplants to supply electricity.Workers from space constructioning cities and towns and working away on the glacier.Antarctica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_stations_in_Antarctica  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Science_and_technology_in_Antarctica     will finally get staff and workers from space to operate spaceport and airports.Border security will be from space to search and filter out crime.They will get law enforcers from space.The space Airport will have heat all year round.Climate.It will have stations as border securities have to search luggage and passengers.Passengers will be from Antarctica.Antarctica won't invite people to their country.It will have space rules.They use the airports to travel parts of the world.Come back and land and get filtered out at the airport.They will have border security.For our people to visit the world.They can invite people to come to Antarctica under space guidelines.Cities created thinking of the law.

It was summer in Antarctica, and Erik Gulbranson and John Isbell were on the hunt. Bundled up in parkas to brave negative temperatures, fierce winds, and blinding days of 24-hour sunlight, Gulbranson, Isbell, and an international team of researchers searched for fossil fragments. Between November 2016 and January 2017, they scaled the snow-capped slopes of the McIntyre Promontory high above the ice fields and glaciers, sifting through the Transantarctic Mountain's gray sedimentary rocks for clues. By the end of the expedition, they had uncovered 13 fossil fragments from trees dating back more than 260 million years, around the time of the world's greatest mass extinction event. The fossil discovery hints at the coldest, driest continent's green and forested past. (Read more about a green snap in Antarctica's history.)

A Green History
"The continent as a whole was much warmer and more humid than it currently is today," says Gulbranson, a professor at University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. The landscape would have been densely forested with a low-diversity network of resilient plants that could withstand polar extremes, like the boreal forest in present-day Siberia. "Oddly enough, these field sites would have actually been very close to what their current latitude is," he adds.

Scientists Rush to Save This Melting Piece of Earth's History The fossils preserved the biology and chemistry of the ancient trees, which will help the researchers investigate more on these high-latitude ecosystems to figure out how some plants survived the extinction event, and why others didn't. What's more, fossil microorganisms and fungi have been preserved inside the wood. The specimens look similar to the petrified forests in Yellowstone National Park, which were fossilized when volcanic materials buried the living trees. Today’sPopular StoriesEnvironmentThese women are changing the landscape of Antarctic researchEnvironmentWhat is seafood fraud? Dangerous—and running rampant, report finds

"They're actually some of the best-preserved fossil plants in the world," Gulbranson says. "The fungi in the wood itself were probably mineralized and turned into stone within a matter of weeks, in some cases probably while the tree was still alive. These things happened incredibly rapidly. You could have witnessed it firsthand if you were there." The researchers found the prehistoric plants could transition rapidly between seasons, perhaps within the span of a month. Whereas modern plants take months to transition and conserve water differently depending on the time of day, the ancient trees could fluctuate quickly between pitch black winters and perpetually sunny summers.

The Permian period, dating between 299 to 251 million years ago, is marked by the emergence of the supercontinent Gondwana. As a mash of continents, environmental extremes plagued the giant land mass, which included parts of modern-day Antarctica, South America, Africa, India, Australia, and the Arabian Peninsula. Ice caps dominated most of the south and tossed it between ceaselessly sunny summers and pitch-black winters, while the north suffered intense heat and seasonal fluctuations. Prehistoric creatures learned to adapt to the turbulent climate until the Permian extinction, which Gulbranson says was most likely caused by volcanism in present-day Siberia. The event wiped out more than 90 percent of marine species and 70 percent of land animals, later making the way for dinosaurs.

Their religion Islam was when a faction on Cybertron and Gobotron left to colonize far away galaxy billions of light years in vortex away.They evolved to having Quran like stories on their giant planet.They evolved this to European Pretender race.They follow these practices.Similiar to islam.Being modern they don't have any terror.They look down at terror.Being a family close to creator and this spread to population.They were close to creators and learned in education.Faction from Gobotron Cybertron had a one-sided belief towards some islam.Divided in religion.They fought to leave Gobotron and Cybertron to take their religion somewhere else.They changed when they went through another dimension.Blue Klingons picked up more islam from Pretender Europeans.Blue Klingons interacted and a happening happened when they practiced against religion like Klingons.They acted like this and something happened.Then a power from the islamic faction happened to them to make them bigger believers.Much of this happened in centuries from 10 000yrs  [//discoverychannel.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada/Antarctic_Pyramids http://discoverychannel.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada/Antarctic_Pyramids]     . Antarctica is going to be Zarconian and my people the European Pretender of space to construction a country out of Antarctica.It will have railroads and they know how to clear snow and ice to make towns and cities.They will construction stations into towns and cities.It will be a place where space can land and live and are for earth based in Antarctica.It will have the giant cities and they can learn technology from construction of a place as Antarctica for learning foods and cultures and getting to know the earth.They don't know it well and are not linked up to us.The Evolution Process Angels and Space Angels don't know about plans for Antarctica and they should to make the Search and Rescue Zarconian.These are all Zarconian.Railways connecting and shipping around rescources and to transport people.Future Antarctica will have roads and highways.Crevaces through alien technology to be shaven down and cleared to make way for spectacular cities.Antarctica is not forgotten by Queen Armada.My pastlife could be inside the rock and snow of Antarctica.To retrieve her from her tomb.Meanwhile the scenery will have skylights from houses and housing developments.And to make new laws to UN.Permission from UN.Same as the Angels of Space Search and Rescue so they can be a branch of Zarconian.Experts of existence of space.Antarctica will have shopping centers and indoor malls.Stores and many places and architecture.Indoor livestock and shipments from freightors with all permissions done and adding in stations across Antarctica.Waterpark will be inside dome like enclosure and be warmed with a climate inside.The water slides will be from earth class ideas and fill up.People will pay to come in with passes and wade around in water.Then to try out the slides.They will use magnetism to make it like a roller coaster for some.People will have loads of fun being an Antarctican.Come out and get to understand things.They can build and make on the mountains resorts and ski lifts for snowboarding.That ought to loads of fun being taken up the mountain for snowboarding.For the non-cooperative we don't build any roads to connect them.Isolated.This is a place that is outer space for me.Queen Armada likes that Antarctica will be constructed as a urban center of future.It is proper place of space for me to be closer to space.Breath taking scenery and I take to it with such a setup and support.Me visiting earth and it has snow hurricanes.Developing relations with the people of earth.This must be done for I'm not through in my jobs to earth being Antarctica.Cost too.This is for privacy while on planet earth.Place where space travellers have a point to leave space this far from their homeworld.Stuck in a ship in space.Far away from rest of the earth and conjestion and world problems.Done night and day constructioning and receiving from space.Way they can have 1st hand experience with people of earth and concepts.Learn the foods and ways of life.https://worldofaquaculture.wordpress.com/forms-of-aquaculture/crustacean-farming/    There will be a valley of hydroponics and greenhouses for growing produce.In the night lights will be used instead of sunlight.It will be huge to grow food to sustain Antarctica.Cattle and livestock to be raised indoors and outdoors surrounded by fence on the snow.They have grass grown for them in greenhouses and more bails of hay as their food.They when there is no snow hurricane can go outside in pen.They return back indoors to be raised by farmers.From our space technology.And in the years in future where the "Prime Directive" comes in far away centuries Antarctica will blend in as a new colony and country.They will have their own ways of life. [//discoverychannel.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada/Vegatation_Antarctica http://discoverychannel.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada/Vegatation_Antarctica] Antarctica needs space technology and manpower.More experienced in other worlds like pole continent.It lost its plant life of trees from prehistoric era it was better off.Its mud underneath all of the crevaces and snow.Rock from mountains and no planteater livestock.There is nowhere for them to survive.No grass for them to eat.Its snow hurricanes and extreme cold.No thermal springs there.Snow in glaciers blocks off everything including access.Snow and ice.Vehicles would have problems.And its resources are poor.Everything needs to be imported.It would need importing and cargo for life as stations have.Its seasons are of the subarctic and in night for entire season.Seasons that bring in more snow hurricanes.

It is not rock covered and on the plateau is a clay dirt.This makes place for trees and habitation.The place has certain places that have rock and rock plateau.Most of it is just like being on the ground level but 10 to 20 miles up and 60miles up for tundra snow.The lakes and bodies of water flow with housing developments and condos.They have the many commuting ways and highways to get to ground level.Grasslands and they make use of grasslands and woods with parks and houses,condos and suburbs.Place abundant in people's activities.They have water supply never runs out even from the rain.Clouds come from space altitudes and bring in rainfall.It rains medium rate.Balanced in many seasons though.Woods and woods creeps down 10 miles down to ground in valleys.In the many climate zones of the island poles continent the way the day and night is in temperature.In the hot zone the temperature is very hot but bareable and is a dry hot with wind.its not humid.Not a humid hot on this continent.Day is hot from the stars.The polar islands continent has provisions against the stars shining as daylight.Atmospheric barrier and many natural barriers.The gases prevent the radation from being concentrated and concentrated light which is spread out and dispersed.You can look at the day safely.In space which is part of mountain's atmosphere on some far away islands it has a barrier to be part of the planet.It has wind pressure here.And this wind pressure dies down at night.The ground and area remains warm.Its warmed and loses its stars heat and retains heat for a warm place.Different climate factors and zones exist from a giant island continent stretching from an area that a star of the stars shines direct heat on the tropics line of the planet.The Southern pole has some of the continent its archepelago peninsula.Its with many island chains cover the frozen icey poles.There is hot zone peninsula.Star is shining directly on hot zone get it at hot temperatures for desert.There is no gravel and sand to cool down.Clay like dirt that retains the warmth.It has rainfall in sunshine.Manysky types with the stars.Rainbows are usual.For each climate and zone.It does not rain in tundra.It has wet snow near tundra and inside the tundra.Wet snowfall and sunshine is in the arctic.Temperature drops to warm for a desert.Not blazing hot.The mountains are temperate.They have tundra and all climates and their own.There are no crevasses.Seasons are longer here.The planet is larger and so the seasons are longer.They shave them down like trees for drinking water and other purposes,swimming or facilities.Structures are built down to the ground exposed.Nothing is built over snow and ice.No wind.Not windy at all.Mountains block off the wind.And the woods jungles retain warmth up there.Crevaces are shaven down by equipment.They then expose the ground to do with them.Regarded as a danger but are not towering in people areas.Moderated temperature up in mountains with a pressure system that gains from space.Stars are closer to mountains than the ground.Crevaces exist but not many stories without climbing gear uses force fields.There are tundra parts of mountains in its peninsula.They have research facilities in tundra.They are meant to monitor space and planet's evolution.They have cities of millions in tundra.Its populated and modernized.End that goes over seas of the tip of the planet with islands.Mountains are fresh with plants and natures gases.Go up in mountains by cars and its fresh air and enriched with gases for breathing.They made stations in the caves taking water up and down.It is not a current.Natural pressure keeps the water still and fish can migrate to lower of mountains and go back up.Many current caves have been drained with stations built and for transportation,train or subways.



Canadian involvement in Antarctic activities
Canadians have been involved in Antarctic research for more than 100 years. Canadian Antarctic researchers are based at more than 15 different Canadian universities and four federal government organizations. Primarily in partnership with the national Antarctic programs of other countries, Canadians have conducted physical sciences, geosciences, life sciences, and human and social sciences Antarctic research. Canadians have also been involved in technology development to facilitate and support Antarctic science and operations and test the performance of technologies in extreme environments.

Canada ratified the Antarctic Treaty as a non-consultative party on May 4, 1988. Canada ratified the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Environmental Protocol) as a full party on December 13, 2003. To implement the Protocol, Canada enacted the Antarctic Environmental Protection Act, which is administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). This Act prohibits certain activities in the Antarctic unless a permit is granted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica_Weather_Danger_Classification

Canadian tourism and education/outreach organizations operate regularly in the Antarctic. In 2015/16, Canada was the sixth highest country in terms of tourists, with Canadians accounting for approximately 5% of Antarctic tourists (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, 2016).

Canadian companies operate and maintain aircraft used to support Antarctic research and other activities. Many Canadian products are also used in Antarctica, including skidoos and snowcats and apparel.

Polar Knowledge Canada’s Antarctic mandate
Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) is Canada’s lead federal agency to strengthen Canadian leadership in polar science and technology. POLAR’s Antarctic mandate is established in POLAR’s enabling legislation, the Canadian High Arctic Research Station Act. POLAR participates along with Environment and Climate Change Canada in the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). As a non-consultative party, Canada can participate in Antarctic governance discussions, but cannot vote on decisions.

POLAR is Canada’s adhering body to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), which initiates, develops and coordinates international scientific research in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean and provides scientific advice to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. POLAR appoints representatives to serve on SCAR’s Standing Scientific Groups and Committees on behalf of Canada. Canada (via POLAR) is also an observer of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP), which serves as an international forum to develop practices that improve the effectiveness of activities in the Antarctic in an environmentally responsible manner, and facilitates related information exchange and international partnerships.

POLAR is working to develop a Canadian Antarctic Research Program to better coordinate, increase and expand Canadian Antarctic research to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the Antarctic, global systems and polar linkages. POLAR is exploring opportunities to operate this program through partnerships with the national polar programs of other countries to facilitate Canadian access to existing Antarctic research infrastructure and logistics. POLAR will be hosting a Canadian Antarctic Research Workshop on October 3-4, 2016 in Ottawa to explore opportunities to strengthen Canadian Antarctic research activities.

POLAR’s Canadian Committee on Antarctic Research (CCAR)
POLAR’s Canadian Committee on Antarctic Research (CCAR) provides advice and guidance to POLAR on Antarctic matters including opportunities to strengthen Canadian Antarctic research activities, and serves as Canada’s National Committee under the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). In 1988 Canada ratified the Antarctic Treaty as a non-consultative party. As a signatory to the Treaty, Canada agreed to ensure that "in the interest of all mankind Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord". In 1994 Canada became an associate member of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR); and, after presenting evidence of continuing interest in science in Antarctica through substantial research there and the formation of a National Committee to communicate with SCAR, became a full member in 1998. The Canadian Polar Commission (CPC) is Canada's adhering body to SCAR; it maintains contact through its subsidiary, the Canadian Committee for Antarctic Research (CCAR).

Colonization of Antarctica refers to having humans including families living permanently on the continent of Antarctica. Currently, the continent only hosts a temporary transient population of scientists and support staff. Antarctica is the only continent on Earth without indigenous human inhabitants.

At present scientists and staff from 30 countries live on about 70 bases (40 year-round and 30 summer-only), with an approximate population of 4000 in summer and 1000 in winter. There have been at least eleven human births in Antarctica, starting with one in 1978 at an Argentine base, with seven more at that base and three at a Chilean base.

Contents

 * 1 Past colonization speculation
 * 2 Domed cities
 * 3 Future conditions
 * 4 The first person known to be born on the continent of Antarctica
 * 5 See also
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links

Past colonization speculation
An idea common in the 1950s was to have Antarctic cities enclosed under glass domes, which would make colonization of the continent possible. Power and temperature regulation of the domes would come from atomic driven generators outside of these domes. A light source at the top of the central tower had been proposed as an artificial sun during the dark months in Antarctica. This scenario would also include regular trans-Antarctic flights as well as mining towns which were dug into Antarctica's ice caps above the shafts down to mineral bearing mountains; however, there are problems with the idea of having an atomic driven generator giving the power and temperature regulation. The atomic reactor at McMurdo Station became a pollution hazard and hence was closed down long ago.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference">[1]

The Antarctic Treaty System, a series of international agreements, presently limit activities on Antarctica. It would need to be modified or abandoned before large-scale colonization could legally occur, in particular with respect to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. On the other hand, it is the very impracticability of permanent colonization that has contributed to the failure of any of the territorial claims to receive international recognition.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference">[2]

Domed cities
Buckminster Fuller, the developer of the geodesic dome, had raised the possibility of Antarctic domed cities that would allow a controlled climate and buildings erected under the dome.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">[3] His first specific published proposal for a domed city in 1965 discussed the Antarctic as a likely first location for such a project.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference">[4] The second base at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station (operated 1975-2003) resembles a reduced version of this idea; it is only large enough to cover a few scientific buildings.

In 1971, a team led by German architect Frei Otto made a feasibility study for an air-supported city dome two kilometers across that could house 40,000 residents.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">[5] Some authors have recently tried to update the idea.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">[6]

Future conditions
Though the environment of Antarctica is too harsh for permanent human settlement to be worthwhile, conditions may become better in the future. It has been suggested that, as a result of long-term effects of global warming, the beginning of the 22nd century will see parts of West Antarctica experiencing similar climate conditions to those found today in Alaska and Northern Scandinavia.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference">[7] Even farming and crop growing could be possible in some of the most northerly areas of Antarctica.

The first person known to be born on the continent of Antarctica
Emilio Marcos Palma (born January 7, 1978) is an Argentine citizen who is the first person known to be born on the continent of Antarctica. He was born in Fortín Sargento Cabral at the Esperanza Base near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and weighed 3.4 kg (7 lb 8 oz).

Stations that monitor the vacuum and for liquid pumped for usage for fire department to taps.Conserved and replicated in vats.Workers go in the caves and tunnels.It also has parts that are closer to space and space's atomosphere layers on this planet.This enriched gas makes the temperature moderate and much like tropical.The tundra has its steam that comes out in springs.Steam is a layer with the ground and vegetation.Steam makes the temperature very warm in tundra.Radius of warmth from up to your chest or more than that.Nature has made steamed hot mixed with tundra surrounding.Steam makes the ground warm and hot.Manmade steam areas for the parks and beaches.Steam effects tundra sands and makes it warm.People are in their bathing clothes from steam days and months at the beach.Its tropical.Historic area is full of moisture.It rains there but it also has Indian summer like fall.The stars are at an angle to make a partial shadow on this area and the tundra pole.It is orangey with overcast of shadows.Its brilliant and shadowey.Even the light has this.Then it gets cloudy when the seasons are over from season to season.The clouds formup and they make cloudy days to consistant temperature that remains under 20C to above 0C.Stays with temperate days and moisture.Has makings of high humidity and then has its cloudy days.Its not cold on the ground and is warmed from moisture and stars.Stars shine in phase from angle as when the day passes.They are not focussed on this part island poles continent.Moisture forming on trees and had showers.Not storms.Light sprinkles and showers.Ground has green vegetation or even red and blue vegetation all year long.Fresh and living.Trees never shed and are bushy all year long.No season for them to have a fall.The HIstoric city and its area is a calming of the weather.Rain  drops and no thunderstorms.Its not a violent weather area.Calm weather with showers.Created here all of those hurricanes from overseas turn temperate and develop  from the poles island continent.Creates many clouds for weather and precipitation.Here any harshness is spread out to sea and collected by winds from space.No storms there all year round but they have snow light few cm of snow at the most.Stay there for months.From season to season showers are in summer.Summer has spring like warmth and people go out in t-shirts and don't worry about precipitation.Light breeze in summer with temperatures in 20C.Plush blue and green,red and mixed valleys in temperatures in subarctic scale in 20's Celsius to subarctic cold.Place retains mosture and well fed plant life and woods with nature in jungles.Has many types of alien tropics and climates types.Has tropical in cold.The 36hrs of day they have partial darkness and partial full sunlight depends where you are.The day in many parts are parts of the day frozen.They have dusk all day long.Another part they have lunch all day long.Rotation of the planet.They have a dawn all day long in the seasons it rotates and consecutive.Lunch and afternoon in order but different zones.If your on the polar poles on peninsula it is sunlight all day for seasons.Just as its darkness all day long for season.People are used to covering windows with blinds and curtains for darkness to sleep.No parasites here at all.They did war on parasites.The poles does not have imported from airport either.Travel inside their own faction and territories.They cultured their soil and maintained it well.It had chemicals natural that eliminated any parasites.Does not have parasites tropically.No major parasites here either.They can't live in clay dirt or the environment has natural chemical in it.Nowhere for them to survive.Being the pole its cold and surrounded by magnetic fields that wreckup such creatures.Place is free of biting insects.We have a subarctic desert area in tundra.Researchers here and in tundra go to UFP and Stargate worlds to research on their clusters of planets.Research on their planets and effects of ecology and all sorts of things they need to know that destroy people and planets.Island continent on the poles had its resources by both parties merger to power up and create each city and connect them by long distance.They harnessed the power and created it into other energies not natural gas.This island poles continent has a vortex theory dimensions.Things are reversed here the day and night time and seasons..Changed it into gases that are greater power source.They also used energy from orbiting smaller star and its plasma.The light for the island continent comes from many far distance stars concentrated rays that make the night glowing.Not pitch dark as when the "gas giant" rotates it goes to another star that like a moon provides glowing light at night time.Stars are watched better.Many colors of glowing sky for night time.Each zone has their own time zones and stars from angles reach them.The gases in atmosphere retain energy and more of an angle the light reaches them far.You can see yourself at night time.And they have networks of street lights throughout the island poles continent.City and countryside.They combined and formed members of the government here.It began inhabited by clans of Pretender Gobots which are people that can transform to robots.They keep their people conversion for as a people they can explore by foot.They retain their people side.They did not start out with research.They were a land that had heat and they could build a land that was not boring with the blue Klingons who have very little crests and markings.Much like white people but they are Klingons from another dimension and far away billions of light years.Sensible people and as modernized people Blue Klingons did not have conflict.Place was a home and people's home as they joint together to construct a home and invent ways to protect their planet from other planets that were inhabitable that are gone from polution and other destructive things to their planet.They have a healthy planet and in Transformer Gobot years 10 000 years old for people's age to milions of years as a race.They are a government race.From higher and lower levels.They all are government workers.No citizens or civilians.Being of the Pretender Gobot race they inherited military from the Transformers and Gobots.Being Pretender Europeans and they are not extremists.

I did'nt make it in this life.I was mediocre and sub par.Factors that led to this before Florence and her failure.Drifiting off from society and government was just giving a small amount of money.Money was tough.I had a mind illness in working this makes work impossible.My life path was changed from the illness.I did not have the cure which the Caretaker Angels and Evolution Process Angels have the cure and can cure my mind or other organs I was born with this as fate.My fate to be a super hero.To be Queen and Superhero with the Greatest American Hero powers and rest of my powers rounded off by GAH.Next time my parents Attractive women will be there for me and my fears of having low money is over.We're Royally wealthy.My parents shemale who made me and had a cured Feroz.My name will be derrived from Feroz but in my people's language.I had my failures to go to success and to put my efforts in crime fighting  in space.I have a solid structure billions of light years from here as a Master race from Pretender Space Europeans.And I get blessings but the Caretaker of Space Angels,Evolution Process Angels need to work on my powers and straightening out my abilities before I get born here and use them.My powers and my parents are Transformer Gobots.They are people.AI.I have to have my soul made into AI and transformation.Retain my people form as my people do.My parents are artificial intelligence and I must be too.Work on the vessel which work on my soul and my race the European Pretender Gobots.My first day during school to go out and start using my powers my parents were intrusted.They have the GAH suit and were told by the Space Caretaker Angels,Evolution Process Angels to take care of the suit for Feroz their child.My first day of missing school and going throughout the city to fly and fly over sidewalks and fly on streets like skating over air.And jumping backwards from tallest buildings.Go to space like the dreamworld.Travel over endless lands like dreamworld flying.Fly over the grass forward.Easier to make distance.Trying out going to the beach and swimming.And I have had my illness cured that would have effected my powers.

Antarctica (UK: / ænˈtɑːrktɪkə / or / ænˈtɑːrtɪkə /, US: / æntˈɑːrktɪkə / ( listen) )<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">[note 1] is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres (5,400,000 square miles), it is the fifth-largest continent. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi; 6,200 ft) in thickness,<sup id="cite_ref-Bedmap2_6-0" class="reference">[5] which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents.<sup id="cite_ref-dnaclimate_7-0" class="reference">[6] Most of Antarctica is a polar desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference">[7] The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) (or even −94.7 °C (−135.8 °F) as measured from space<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference">[8] ), though the average for the third quarter (the coldest part of the year) is −63 °C (−81 °F). Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, and certain animals, such as mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra.

Antarctica is noted as the last region on Earth in recorded history to be discovered, unseen until 1820 when the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny sighted the Fimbul ice shelf. The continent, however, remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources, and isolation. In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians.

Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then. The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations.

Contents

 * 1 Etymology
 * 2 Change of name
 * 3 History of exploration
 * 4 Geography
 * 5 Geology
 * 5.1 Geological history and palaeontology
 * 5.1.1 Palaeozoic era (540–250 Ma)
 * 5.1.2 Mesozoic era (250–66 Ma)
 * 5.1.3 Gondwana breakup (160–23 Ma)
 * 5.1.4 Neogene Period (23–0.05 Ma)
 * 5.1.5 Meyer Desert Formation biota
 * 5.2 Present-day
 * 6 Climate
 * 7 Population
 * 8 Biodiversity
 * 8.1 Animals
 * 8.2 Fungi
 * 8.3 Plants
 * 8.4 Other organisms
 * 8.5 Conservation
 * 9 Politics
 * 9.1 Antarctic territories
 * 10 Economy
 * 11 Research
 * 11.1 Meteorites
 * 12 Ice mass and global sea level
 * 13 Effects of global warming
 * 14 Ozone depletion
 * 15 See also
 * 16 Notes
 * 17 References
 * 18 External links

Etymology
Adélie penguins in AntarcticaThe name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική (antarktiké), feminine of ἀνταρκτικός (antarktikós),<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference">[9] meaning "opposite to the Arctic", "opposite to the north".<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference">[10]

Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c. 350 BC<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference">[11] Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century CE. The Roman authors Hyginus and Apuleius (1–2 centuries CE) used for the South Pole the romanised Greek name polus antarcticus,<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference">[12] <sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference">[13] from which derived the Old French pole antartike (modern pôle antarctique) attested in 1270, and from there the Middle English pol antartik in a 1391 technical treatise by Geoffrey Chaucer (modern Antarctic Pole).<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference">[14]

Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for other locations that could be defined as "opposite to the north". For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called "France Antarctique".

The first formal use of the name "Antarctica" as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference">[15]

Change of name
The long-imagined (but undiscovered) south polar continent was originally called Terra Australis, sometimes shortened to 'Australia' as seen in a woodcut illustration titled Sphere of the winds, contained in an astrological textbook published in Frankfurt in 1545.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference">[16] Although the longer Latin phrase was better known, the shortened name Australia was used in Europe's scholarly circles.

Then in the nineteenth century, the colonial authorities in Sydney removed the Dutch name from New Holland. Instead of inventing a new name to replace it, they took the name Australia from the south polar continent, leaving it nameless for some eighty years. During that period, geographers had to make do with clumsy phrases such as "the Antarctic Continent". They searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting various names such as Ultima and Antipodea.<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference">[17] Eventually Antarctica was adopted in the 1890s.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference">[18]

History of exploration
Main article: History of AntarcticaSee also: List of Antarctic expeditions and Women in AntarcticaHistorical claims to continental Antarctica France 1840–present United Kingdom 1908–present New Zealand 1923–present Australia 1933–present Norway 1939–present Germany 1939–1945 Chile 1940–present Argentina 1943–present Discovery and claim of French sovereignty over Adélie Land by Jules Dumont d'Urville, in 1840. Painting of James Weddell's second expedition in 1823, depicting the brig Jane and the cutter BeaufroyAntarctica has no indigenous population, and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. However, in February 1775, during his second voyage, Captain Cook called the existence of such a polar continent "probable" and in another copy of his journal he wrote:"[I] firmly believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen a part of it".<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference">[19]
 * Adélie Land 1840–present
 * Falkland Islands Dependencies 1908–1962
 * British Antarctic Territory 1962–present
 * Ross Dependency 1923–present
 * Australian Antarctic Territory 1933–present
 * Queen Maud Land 1939–present
 * New Swabia 1939–1945
 * Chilean Antarctic Territory 1940–present
 * Argentine Antarctica 1943–present

However, belief in the existence of a Terra Australis—a vast continent in the far south of the globe to "balance" the northern lands of Europe, Asia and North Africa—had prevailed since the times of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD. Even in the late 17th century, after explorers had found that South America and Australia were not part of the fabled "Antarctica", geographers believed that the continent was much larger than its actual size. Integral to the story of the origin of Antarctica's name is that it was not named Terra Australis—this name was given to Australia instead, because of the misconception that no significant landmass could exist further south. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has been credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. He justified the titling of his book A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814) by writing in the introduction: There is no probability, that any other detached body of land, of nearly equal extent, will ever be found in a more southern latitude; the name Terra Australis will, therefore, remain descriptive of the geographical importance of this country and of its situation on the globe: it has antiquity to recommend it; and, having no reference to either of the two claiming nations, appears to be less objectionable than any other which could have been selected.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference">[20]  The First Russian Antarctic Expedition 1819–1821.European maps continued to show this hypothesised land until Captain James Cook's ships, HMS Resolution and Adventure, crossed the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773, in December 1773 and again in January 1774.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference">[21] Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference">[22]

According to various organisations (the National Science Foundation,<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference">[23] NASA,<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference">[24] the University of California, San Diego,<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference">[25] the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic,<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference">[26] among others),<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference">[27] <sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference">[28] ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820: Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (a captain in the Imperial Russian Navy), Edward Bransfield (a captain in the Royal Navy), and Nathaniel Palmer (a sealer from Stonington, Connecticut).

The First Russian Antarctic Expedition led by Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on the 985-ton sloop-of-war Vostok ("East") and the 530-ton support vessel Mirny ("Peaceful") reached a point within 32 km (20 mi) of Queen Maud's Land and recorded the sight of an ice shelf at 69°21′28″S 2°14′50″W ,<sup id="cite_ref-tammiksaar_30-0" class="reference">[29] on 27 January 1820,<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference">[30] which became known as the Fimbul ice shelf. This happened three days before Bransfield sighted land and ten months before Palmer did so in November 1820. The first documented landing on Antarctica was by the American sealer John Davis, apparently at Hughes Bay, near Cape Charles, in West Antarctica on 7 February 1821, although some historians dispute this claim.<sup id="cite_ref-jb04AA_32-0" class="reference">[31] <sup id="cite_ref-MNP-CCJ92_33-0" class="reference">[32] The first recorded and confirmed landing was at Cape Adair in 1895 (by the Norwegian-Swedish whaling ship Antarctic).<sup id="cite_ref-RICpseb01_34-0" class="reference">[33]  Nimrod Expedition South Pole Party (left to right): Wild, Shackleton, Marshall and Adams Roald Amundsen and his crew looking at the Norwegian flag at the South Pole, 1911 Dumont d'Urville Station, an example of modern human settlement in AntarcticaOn 22 January 1840, two days after the discovery of the coast west of the Balleny Islands, some members of the crew of the 1837–40 expedition of Jules Dumont d'Urville disembarked on the highest islet<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference">[34] of a group of rocky islands about 4 km from Cape Géodésie on the coast of Adélie Land where they took some mineral, algae, and animal samples, erected the French flag and claimed French sovereignty over the territory.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference">[35]

In December 1839, as part of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–42 conducted by the United States Navy (sometimes called the "Ex. Ex.", or "the Wilkes Expedition"), an expedition sailed from Sydney, Australia, into the Antarctic Ocean, as it was then known, and reported the discovery "of an Antarctic continent west of the Balleny Islands" on 25 January 1840. That part of Antarctica was named "Wilkes Land", a name it retains to this day.

Explorer James Clark Ross passed through what is now known as the Ross Sea and discovered Ross Island (both of which were named after him) in 1841. He sailed along a huge wall of ice that was later named the Ross Ice Shelf. Mount Erebus and Mount Terror are named after two ships from his expedition: HMS Erebus and Terror.<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference">[36] Mercator Cooper landed in East Antarctica on 26 January 1853.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference">[37]

During the Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1907, parties led by Edgeworth David became the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the South Magnetic Pole. Douglas Mawson, who assumed the leadership of the Magnetic Pole party on their perilous return, went on to lead several expeditions until retiring in 1931.<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference">[38] In addition, Shackleton and three other members of his expedition made several firsts in December 1908 – February 1909: they were the first humans to traverse the Ross Ice Shelf, the first to traverse the Transantarctic Mountains (via the Beardmore Glacier), and the first to set foot on the South Polar Plateau. An expedition led by Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen from the ship Fram became the first to reach the geographic South Pole on 14 December 1911, using a route from the Bay of Whales and up the Axel Heiberg Glacier.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference">[39] One month later, the doomed Scott Expedition reached the pole.

Richard E. Byrd led several voyages to the Antarctic by plane in the 1930s and 1940s. He is credited with implementing mechanised land transport on the continent and conducting extensive geological and biological research.<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference">[40] The first women to set foot on Antarctica did so in the 1930s with Caroline Mikkelsen landing on an island of Antarctica in 1935,<sup id="cite_ref-development.tas.gov.au_42-0" class="reference">[41] and Ingrid Christensen stepping onto the mainland in 1937.<sup id="cite_ref-:5_43-0" class="reference">[42] <sup id="cite_ref-:32_44-0" class="reference">[43] <sup id="cite_ref-:12_45-0" class="reference">[44]  In 1997 Børge Ousland became the first person to do a solo crossing.It was not until 31 October 1956, that anyone set foot on the South Pole again; on that day a U.S. Navy group led by Rear Admiral George J. Dufek successfully landed an aircraft there.<sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference">[45] The first women to step onto the South Pole were Pam Young, Jean Pearson, Lois Jones, Eileen McSaveney, Kay Lindsay and Terry Tickhill in 1969.<sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference">[46]

The first person to sail single-handed to Antarctica was the New Zealander David Henry Lewis, in 1972, in the 10-metre steel sloop Ice Bird.

On 28 April 1979, Air New Zealand Flight 901, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 people on board.<sup id="cite_ref-ASN_48-0" class="reference">[47]

In the southern Hemisphere Summer of 1996/97 Børge Ousland became the first human to cross Antarctica alone from coast to coast<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference">[48]. Ousland got aid from a kite on parts of the distance. All attempted crossings, with no kites or resupplies, that have tried to go from the true continental edges, where the ice meets the sea, have failed due to the great distance that needs to be covered.<sup id="cite_ref-:33_50-0" class="reference">[49] For this crossing, Ousland also holds the record for the fastest unsupported journey to the South Pole taking just 34 days.<sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference">[50]

Geography
Main article: Geography of AntarcticaSee also: Extreme points of Antarctica and List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands Labeled map of AntarcticaPositioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle, Antarctica is the southernmost continent and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean; alternatively, it may be considered to be surrounded by the southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, or by the southern waters of the World Ocean. There are a number of rivers and lakes in Antarctica, the longest river being the Onyx. The largest lake, Vostok, is one of the largest sub-glacial lakes in the world. Antarctica covers more than 14 million km2 (5,400,000 sq mi),<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-1" class="reference">[1] making it the fifth-largest continent, about 1.3 times as large as Europe. The coastline measures 17,968 km (11,165 mi)<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-2" class="reference">[1] and is mostly characterised by ice formations, as the following table shows: Antarctica is divided in two by the Transantarctic Mountains close to the neck between the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea. The portion west of the Weddell Sea and east of the Ross Sea is called West Antarctica and the remainder East Antarctica, because they roughly correspond to the Western and Eastern Hemispheres relative to the Greenwich meridian. Elevation coloured by relief heightAbout 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, a sheet of ice averaging at least 1.6 km (1.0 mi) thick. The continent has about 90% of the world's ice (and thereby about 70% of the world's fresh water). If all of this ice were melted, sea levels would rise about 60 m (200 ft).<sup id="cite_ref-howstuffworks_53-0" class="reference">[52] In most of the interior of the continent, precipitation is very low, down to 20 mm (0.8 in) per year; in a few "blue ice" areas precipitation is lower than mass loss by sublimation, and so the local mass balance is negative. In the dry valleys, the same effect occurs over a rock base, leading to a desiccated landscape.

West Antarctica is covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The sheet has been of recent concern because of the small possibility of its collapse. If the sheet were to break down, ocean levels would rise by several metres in a relatively geologically short period of time, perhaps a matter of centuries. Several Antarctic ice streams, which account for about 10% of the ice sheet, flow to one of the many Antarctic ice shelves: see ice-sheet dynamics.

East Antarctica lies on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains and comprises Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac._Robertson_Land Mac. Robertson Land], Wilkes Land, and Victoria Land. All but a small portion of this region lies within the Eastern Hemisphere. East Antarctica is largely covered by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Mount Erebus, an active volcano on Ross IslandVinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft), is located in the Ellsworth Mountains. Antarctica contains many other mountains, on both the main continent and the surrounding islands. Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano. Another well-known volcano is found on Deception Island, which is famous for a giant eruption in 1970. Minor eruptions are frequent, and lava flow has been observed in recent years. Other dormant volcanoes may potentially be active.<sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference">[53] In 2004, a potentially active underwater volcano was found in the Antarctic Peninsula by American and Canadian researchers.<sup id="cite_ref-55" class="reference">[54]

Antarctica is home to more than 70 lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet. Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station in 1996, is the largest of these subglacial lakes. It was once believed that the lake had been sealed off for 500,000 to one million years, but a recent survey suggests that, every so often, there are large flows of water from one lake to another.<sup id="cite_ref-Briggs2006_56-0" class="reference">[55]

There is some evidence, in the form of ice cores drilled to about 400 m (1,300 ft) above the water line, that Lake Vostok's waters may contain microbial life. The frozen surface of the lake shares similarities with Jupiter's moon, Europa. If life is discovered in Lake Vostok, it would strengthen the argument for the possibility of life on Europa.<sup id="cite_ref-57" class="reference">[56] <sup id="cite_ref-58" class="reference">[57] On 7 February 2008, a NASA team embarked on a mission to Lake Untersee, searching for extremophiles in its highly alkaline waters. If found, these resilient creatures could further bolster the argument for extraterrestrial life in extremely cold, methane-rich environments.<sup id="cite_ref-NASA-CloroxLake_59-0" class="reference">[58]

In September 2018, researchers at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency released a high resolution terrain map (detail down to the size of a car, and less in some areas) of Antarctica, named the "Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica" (REMA).<sup id="cite_ref-NYT-20180907_60-0" class="reference">[59]

Geology
The bedrock topography of Antarctica, critical to understand dynamic motion of the continental ice sheetsMain article: Geology of Antarctica Subglacial topography and bathymetry of bedrock underlying Antarctica ice sheet The above map shows the subglacial topography of Antarctica. As indicated by the scale on left-hand side, blue represents portion of Antarctica lying below sea level. The other colours indicate Antarctic bedrock lying above sea level. Each colour represents an interval of 760 m (2,500 ft) in elevation. Map is not corrected for sea level rise or isostatic rebound, which would occur if the Antarctic ice sheet completely melted to expose the bedrock surface. Topographic map of Antarctica after removing the ice sheet and accounting for both isostatic rebound and sea level rise. Hence, this map suggests what Antarctica may have looked like 35 million years ago, when the Earth was warm enough to prevent the formation of large-scale ice sheets in Antarctica.

Geological history and palaeontology
Skeletal reconstruction of CryolophosaurusMore than 170 million years ago, Antarctica was part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Over time, Gondwana gradually broke apart, and Antarctica as we know it today was formed around 25 million years ago. Antarctica was not always cold, dry, and covered in ice sheets. At a number of points in its long history, it was farther north, experienced a tropical or temperate climate, was covered in forests, and inhabited by various ancient life forms.

Palaeozoic era (540–250 Ma)
During the Cambrian period, Gondwana had a mild climate. West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere, and during this period large amounts of sandstones, limestones and shales were deposited. East Antarctica was at the equator, where sea floor invertebrates and trilobites flourished in the tropical seas. By the start of the Devonian period (416 Ma), Gondwana was in more southern latitudes and the climate was cooler, though fossils of land plants are known from this time. Sand and silts were laid down in what is now the Ellsworth, Horlick and Pensacola Mountains. Glaciation began at the end of the Devonian period (360 Ma), as Gondwana became centred on the South Pole and the climate cooled, though flora remained. During the Permian period, the land became dominated by seed plants such as Glossopteris, a pteridosperm which grew in swamps. Over time these swamps became deposits of coal in the Transantarctic Mountains. Towards the end of the Permian period, continued warming led to a dry, hot climate over much of Gondwana.<sup id="cite_ref-Stonehouse_61-0" class="reference">[60]

Mesozoic era (250–66 Ma)
As a result of continued warming, the polar ice caps melted and much of Gondwana became a desert. In Eastern Antarctica, seed ferns or pteridosperms became abundant and large amounts of sandstone and shale were laid down at this time. Synapsids, commonly known as "mammal-like reptiles", were common in Antarctica during the Early Triassic and included forms such as Lystrosaurus. The Antarctic Peninsula began to form during the Jurassic period (206–146 Ma), and islands gradually rose out of the ocean. Ginkgo trees, conifers, bennettites, horsetails, ferns and cycads were plentiful during this period. In West Antarctica, coniferous forests dominated through the entire Cretaceous period (146–66 Ma), though southern beech became more prominent towards the end of this period. Ammonites were common in the seas around Antarctica, and dinosaurs were also present, though only three Antarctic dinosaur genera (Cryolophosaurus and Glacialisaurus, from the Hanson Formation,<sup id="cite_ref-SmithPol2007_62-0" class="reference">[61] and Antarctopelta) have been described to date.<sup id="cite_ref-63" class="reference">[62] It was during this era that Gondwana began to break up.

However, there is some evidence of antarctic marine glaciation during the Cretaceous period.<sup id="cite_ref-64" class="reference">[63]

Gondwana breakup (160–23 Ma)
The cooling of Antarctica occurred stepwise, as the continental spread changed the oceanic currents from longitudinal equator-to-pole temperature-equalising currents to latitudinal currents that preserved and accentuated latitude temperature differences.

Africa separated from Antarctica in the Jurassic, around 160 Ma, followed by the Indian subcontinent in the early Cretaceous (about 125 Ma). By the end of the Cretaceous, about 66 Ma, Antarctica (then connected to Australia) still had a subtropical climate and flora, complete with a marsupial fauna.<sup id="cite_ref-65" class="reference">[64] In the Eocene epoch, about 40 Ma Australia-New Guinea separated from Antarctica, so that latitudinal currents could isolate Antarctica from Australia, and the first ice began to appear. During the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event about 34 million years ago, CO2 levels have been found to be about 760 ppm<sup id="cite_ref-66" class="reference">[65] and had been decreasing from earlier levels in the thousands of ppm.

Around 23 Ma, the Drake Passage opened between Antarctica and South America, resulting in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that completely isolated the continent. Models of the changes suggest that declining CO2 levels became more important.<sup id="cite_ref-DeContoPollard2003_67-0" class="reference">[66] The ice began to spread, replacing the forests that then covered the continent.

Neogene Period (23–0.05 Ma)
Since about 15 Ma, the continent has been mostly covered with ice.<sup id="cite_ref-Trewby2002_68-0" class="reference">[67]

Meyer Desert Formation biota
Main article: Meyer Desert Formation biotaFossil Nothofagus leaves in the Meyer Desert Formation of the Sirius Group show that intermittent warm periods allowed Nothofagus shrubs to cling to the Dominion Range as late as 3–4 Ma (mid-late Pliocene).<sup id="cite_ref-69" class="reference">[68] After that, the Pleistocene ice age covered the whole continent and destroyed all major plant life on it.<sup id="cite_ref-70" class="reference">[69]

Present-day
Glaciers and rock outcrops in Marie Byrd Land seen from NASA's DC-8 aircraftThe geological study of Antarctica has been greatly hindered by nearly all of the continent being permanently covered with a thick layer of ice.<sup id="cite_ref-71" class="reference">[70] However, new techniques such as remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar and satellite imagery have begun to reveal the structures beneath the ice.

Geologically, West Antarctica closely resembles the Andes mountain range of South America.<sup id="cite_ref-Stonehouse_61-1" class="reference">[60] The Antarctic Peninsula was formed by uplift and metamorphism of sea bed sediments during the late Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic eras. This sediment uplift was accompanied by igneous intrusions and volcanism. The most common rocks in West Antarctica are andesite and rhyolite volcanics formed during the Jurassic period. There is also evidence of volcanic activity, even after the ice sheet had formed, in Marie Byrd Land and Alexander Island. The only anomalous area of West Antarctica is the Ellsworth Mountains region, where the stratigraphy is more similar to East Antarctica.

East Antarctica is geologically varied, dating from the Precambrian era, with some rocks formed more than 3 billion years ago. It is composed of a metamorphic and igneous platform which is the basis of the continental shield. On top of this base are coal and various modern rocks, such as sandstones, limestones and shales laid down during the Devonian and Jurassic periods to form the Transantarctic Mountains. In coastal areas such as Shackleton Range and Victoria Land some faulting has occurred.

The main mineral resource known on the continent is coal.<sup id="cite_ref-Trewby2002_68-1" class="reference">[67] It was first recorded near the Beardmore Glacier by Frank Wild on the Nimrod Expedition, and now low-grade coal is known across many parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The Prince Charles Mountains contain significant deposits of iron ore. The most valuable resources of Antarctica lie offshore, namely the oil and natural gas fields found in the Ross Sea in 1973. Exploitation of all mineral resources is banned until 2048 by the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

Climate
Main article: Climate of Antarctica The blue ice covering Lake Fryxell, in the Transantarctic Mountains, comes from glacial meltwater from the Canada Glacier and other smaller glaciers. Near the coast, December looks fairly temperate.Antarctica is the coldest of Earth's continents. It used to be ice-free until about 34 million years ago, when it became covered with ice.<sup id="cite_ref-72" class="reference">[71] The coldest natural air temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983.<sup id="cite_ref-73" class="reference">[72] For comparison, this is 10.7 °C (20 °F) colder than subliming dry ice at one atmosphere of partial pressure, but since CO2 only makes up 0.039% of air, temperatures of less than −140 °C (−220 °F)<sup id="cite_ref-AgeeOrton2013_74-0" class="reference">[73] would be needed to produce dry ice snow in Antarctica. A lower air temperature of −94.7 °C (−138.5 °F) was recorded in 2010 by satellite—however, it may be influenced by ground temperatures and was not recorded at a height of 7 feet (2 m) above the surface as required for the official air temperature records.<sup id="cite_ref-75" class="reference">[74] Antarctica is a frozen desert with little precipitation; the South Pole receives less than 10 cm (4 in) per year, on average. Temperatures reach a minimum of between −80 °C (−112 °F) and −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) in the interior in winter and reach a maximum of between 5 °C (41 °F) and 15 °C (59 °F) near the coast in summer. Sunburn is often a health issue as the snow surface reflects almost all of the ultraviolet light falling on it. Given the latitude, long periods of constant darkness or constant sunlight create climates unfamiliar to human beings in much of the rest of the world.<sup id="cite_ref-BAS-weather_76-0" class="reference">[75]  The snow surface at Dome C Station is typical of most of the continent's surface.East Antarctica is colder than its western counterpart because of its higher elevation. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, leaving the centre cold and dry. Despite the lack of precipitation over the central portion of the continent, ice there lasts for extended periods. Heavy snowfalls are common on the coastal portion of the continent, where snowfalls of up to 1.22 metres (48 in) in 48 hours have been recorded.

At the edge of the continent, strong katabatic winds off the polar plateau often blow at storm force. In the interior, wind speeds are typically moderate. During clear days in summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at the South Pole than at the equator because of the 24 hours of sunlight each day at the Pole.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-3" class="reference">[1]

Antarctica is colder than the Arctic for three reasons. First, much of the continent is more than 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, and temperature decreases with elevation in the troposphere. Second, the Arctic Ocean covers the north polar zone: the ocean's relative warmth is transferred through the icepack and prevents temperatures in the Arctic regions from reaching the extremes typical of the land surface of Antarctica. Third, the Earth is at aphelion in July (i.e., the Earth is farthest from the Sun in the Antarctic winter), and the Earth is at perihelion in January (i.e., the Earth is closest to the Sun in the Antarctic summer). The orbital distance contributes to a colder Antarctic winter (and a warmer Antarctic summer) but the first two effects have more impact.<sup id="cite_ref-77" class="reference">[76]

The aurora australis, commonly known as the southern lights, is a glow observed in the night sky near the South Pole created by the plasma-full solar winds that pass by the Earth. Another unique spectacle is diamond dust, a ground-level cloud composed of tiny ice crystals. It generally forms under otherwise clear or nearly clear skies, so people sometimes also refer to it as clear-sky precipitation. A sun dog, a frequent atmospheric optical phenomenon, is a bright "spot" beside the true sun.<sup id="cite_ref-BAS-weather_76-1" class="reference">[75]

Population
See also: Demographics of Antarctica, Research stations in Antarctica, and Colonization of Antarctica The "ceremonial" South Pole, at Amundsen–Scott StationSeveral governments maintain permanent manned research stations on the continent. The number of people conducting and supporting scientific research and other work on the continent and its nearby islands varies from about 1,000 in winter to about 5,000 in the summer, giving it a population density between 70 and 350 inhabitants per million square kilometres (180 and 900 per million square miles) at these times. Many of the stations are staffed year-round, the winter-over personnel typically arriving from their home countries for a one-year assignment. An Orthodox church—Trinity Church, opened in 2004 at the Russian Bellingshausen Station—is manned year-round by one or two priests, who are similarly rotated every year.<sup id="cite_ref-78" class="reference">[77] <sup id="cite_ref-79" class="reference">[78]  Port Lockroy MuseumThe first semi-permanent inhabitants of regions near Antarctica (areas situated south of the Antarctic Convergence) were British and American sealers who used to spend a year or more on South Georgia, from 1786 onward. During the whaling era, which lasted until 1966, the population of that island varied from over 1,000 in the summer (over 2,000 in some years) to some 200 in the winter. Most of the whalers were Norwegian, with an increasing proportion of Britons. The settlements included Grytviken, Leith Harbour, King Edward Point, Stromness, Husvik, Prince Olav Harbour, Ocean Harbour and Godthul. Managers and other senior officers of the whaling stations often lived together with their families. Among them was the founder of Grytviken, Captain Carl Anton Larsen, a prominent Norwegian whaler and explorer who, along with his family, adopted British citizenship in 1910.

The first child born in the southern polar region was Norwegian girl Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen, born in Grytviken on 8 October 1913, and her birth was registered by the resident British Magistrate of South Georgia. She was a daughter of Fridthjof Jacobsen, the assistant manager of the whaling station, and Klara Olette Jacobsen. Jacobsen arrived on the island in 1904 and became the manager of Grytviken, serving from 1914 to 1921; two of his children were born on the island.<sup id="cite_ref-80" class="reference">[79]

Emilio Marcos Palma was the first person born south of the 60th parallel south (the continental limit according to the Antarctic Treaty),<sup id="cite_ref-81" class="reference">[80] as well as the first one born on the Antarctic mainland, in 1978 at Base Esperanza, on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula;<sup id="cite_ref-82" class="reference">[81] <sup id="cite_ref-83" class="reference">[82] his parents were sent there along with seven other families by the Argentine government to determine if the continent was suitable for family life. In 1984, Juan Pablo Camacho was born at the Frei Montalva Station, becoming the first Chilean born in Antarctica. Several bases are now home to families with children attending schools at the station.<sup id="cite_ref-84" class="reference">[83] As of 2009, eleven children were born in Antarctica (south of the 60th parallel south): eight at the Argentine Esperanza Base<sup id="cite_ref-85" class="reference">[84] and three at the Chilean Frei Montalva Station.<sup id="cite_ref-86" class="reference">[85]

Biodiversity
See also: Antarctic ecozone, Antarctic flora, Antarctic microorganism, and Wildlife of Antarctica Antarctopelta fossils Emperor penguins in Ross Sea, Antarctica

Animals
Few terrestrial vertebrates live in Antarctica, and those that do are limited to the sub-Antarctic islands.<sup id="cite_ref-87" class="reference">[86] Invertebrate life includes microscopic mites like the Alaskozetes antarcticus, lice, nematodes, tardigrades, rotifers, krill and springtails. The flightless midge Belgica antarctica, up to 6 mm (1⁄4 in) in size, is the largest purely terrestrial animal in Antarctica.<sup id="cite_ref-88" class="reference">[87] The snow petrel is one of only three birds that breed exclusively in Antarctica.<sup id="cite_ref-89" class="reference">[88]

Some species of marine animals exist and rely, directly or indirectly, on the phytoplankton. Antarctic sea life includes penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals. The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica, while the Adélie penguin breeds farther south than any other penguin. The southern rockhopper penguin has distinctive feathers around the eyes, giving the appearance of elaborate eyelashes. King penguins, chinstrap penguins, and gentoo penguins also breed in the Antarctic.

The Antarctic fur seal was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by sealers from the United States and the United Kingdom. The Weddell seal, a "true seal", is named after Sir James Weddell, commander of British sealing expeditions in the Weddell Sea. Antarctic krill, which congregate in large schools, is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, and is an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, penguins, albatrosses and many other birds.<sup id="cite_ref-90" class="reference">[89]

A census of sea life carried out during the International Polar Year and which involved some 500 researchers was released in 2010. The research is part of the global Census of Marine Life and has disclosed some remarkable findings. More than 235 marine organisms live in both polar regions, having bridged the gap of 12,000 km (7,456 mi). Large animals such as some cetaceans and birds make the round trip annually. More surprising are small forms of life such as sea cucumbers and free-swimming snails found in both polar oceans. Various factors may aid in their distribution – fairly uniform temperatures of the deep ocean at the poles and the equator which differ by no more than 5 °C, and the major current systems or marine conveyor belt which transport eggs and larval stages.<sup id="cite_ref-91" class="reference">[90]

Fungi
About 400 species of lichen-forming fungi are known to exist in Antarctica.About 1,150 species of fungi have been recorded from Antarctica, of which about 750 are non-lichen-forming and 400 are lichen-forming.<sup id="cite_ref-basplants_92-0" class="reference">[91] <sup id="cite_ref-93" class="reference">[92] Some of these species are cryptoendoliths as a result of evolution under extreme conditions, and have significantly contributed to shaping the impressive rock formations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and surrounding mountain ridges. The apparently simple morphology, scarcely differentiated structures, metabolic systems and enzymes still active at very low temperatures, and reduced life cycles shown by such fungi make them particularly suited to harsh environments such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In particular, their thick-walled and strongly melanised cells make them resistant to UV light. Those features can also be observed in algae and cyanobacteria, suggesting that these are adaptations to the conditions prevailing in Antarctica. This has led to speculation that, if life ever occurred on Mars, it might have looked similar to Antarctic fungi such as Cryomyces antarcticus, and Cryomyces minteri.<sup id="cite_ref-94" class="reference">[93] Some of these fungi are also apparently endemic to Antarctica. Endemic Antarctic fungi also include certain dung-inhabiting species which have had to evolve in response to the double challenge of extreme cold while growing on dung, and the need to survive passage through the gut of warm-blooded animals.<sup id="cite_ref-95" class="reference">[94]

Plants
About 298 million years ago Permian forests started to cover the continent, and tundra vegetation survived as late as 15 million years ago,<sup id="cite_ref-96" class="reference">[95] but the climate of present-day Antarctica does not allow extensive vegetation to form. A combination of freezing temperatures, poor soil quality, lack of moisture, and lack of sunlight inhibit plant growth. As a result, the diversity of plant life is very low and limited in distribution. The flora of the continent largely consists of bryophytes. There are about 100 species of mosses and 25 species of liverworts, but only three species of flowering plants, all of which are found in the Antarctic Peninsula: Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hair grass), Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort) and the non-native Poa annua (annual bluegrass).<sup id="cite_ref-97" class="reference">[96] Growth is restricted to a few weeks in the summer.<sup id="cite_ref-basplants_92-1" class="reference">[91] <sup id="cite_ref-aadplants_98-0" class="reference">[97]

Other organisms
Red fluid pours out of Blood Falls at Taylor Glacier. The colour derives from iron oxides.Seven hundred species of algae exist, most of which are phytoplankton. Multicoloured snow algae and diatoms are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer.<sup id="cite_ref-aadplants_98-1" class="reference">[97] Bacteria have been found living in the cold and dark as deep as 800 m (0.50 mi; 2,600 ft) under the ice.<sup id="cite_ref-NYT-20130206_99-0" class="reference">[98]

Conservation
Dumping of waste, including old vehicles, such as here at the Russian Bellingshausen Station in 1992, is prohibited since the entry into force of the Protocol on Environmental Protection in 1998.The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (also known as the Environmental Protocol or Madrid Protocol) came into force in 1998, and is the main instrument concerned with conservation and management of biodiversity in Antarctica. The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting is advised on environmental and conservation issues in Antarctica by the Committee for Environmental Protection. A major concern within this committee is the risk to Antarctica from unintentional introduction of non-native species from outside the region.<sup id="cite_ref-BridgeHughes73_100-0" class="reference">[99]

The passing of the Antarctic Conservation Act (1978) in the U.S. brought several restrictions to U.S. activity on Antarctica. The introduction of alien plants or animals can bring a criminal penalty, as can the extraction of any indigenous species. The overfishing of krill, which plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem, led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), a treaty that came into force in 1980, requires that regulations managing all Southern Ocean fisheries consider potential effects on the entire Antarctic ecosystem.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-4" class="reference">[1] Despite these new acts, unregulated and illegal fishing, particularly of Patagonian toothfish (marketed as Chilean Sea Bass in the U.S.), remains a serious problem. The illegal fishing of toothfish has been increasing, with estimates of 32,000 tonnes (35,300 short tons) in 2000.<sup id="cite_ref-KirbyBBC-2001_101-0" class="reference">[100] <sup id="cite_ref-AUgovAntartica-toothfish_102-0" class="reference">[101]

Politics
Emblem of the Antarctic Treaty since 2002. 29 national Antarctic programmes together supporting science in Antarctica (2009)Several countries claim sovereignty in certain regions. While a few of these countries have mutually recognised each other's claims,<sup id="cite_ref-mutualrecog_103-0" class="reference">[102] the validity of these claims is not recognised universally.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-5" class="reference">[1]

New claims on Antarctica have been suspended since 1959, although in 2015 Norway formally defined Queen Maud Land as including the unclaimed area between it and the South Pole.<sup id="cite_ref-104" class="reference">[103] Antarctica's status is regulated by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and other related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctica is defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60° S for the purposes of the Treaty System. The treaty was signed by twelve countries including the Soviet Union (and later Russia), the United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and the United States.<sup id="cite_ref-105" class="reference">[104] It set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, established freedom of scientific investigation and environmental protection, and banned military activity on Antarctica. This was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.

In 1983 the Antarctic Treaty Parties began negotiations on a convention to regulate mining in Antarctica.<sup id="cite_ref-106" class="reference">[105] A coalition of international organisations<sup id="cite_ref-107" class="reference">[106] launched a public pressure campaign to prevent any minerals development in the region, led largely by Greenpeace International,<sup id="cite_ref-108" class="reference">[107] which operated its own scientific station—World Park Base—in the Ross Sea region from 1987 until 1991<sup id="cite_ref-109" class="reference">[108] and conducted annual expeditions to document environmental effects of humans on Antarctica.<sup id="cite_ref-110" class="reference">[109] In 1988, the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources (CRAMRA) was adopted.<sup id="cite_ref-111" class="reference">[110] The following year, however, Australia and France announced that they would not ratify the convention, rendering it dead for all intents and purposes. They proposed instead that a comprehensive regime to protect the Antarctic environment be negotiated in its place.<sup id="cite_ref-AUgovAntartica-Madrid_112-0" class="reference">[111] The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the "Madrid Protocol") was negotiated as other countries followed suit and on 14 January 1998 it entered into force.<sup id="cite_ref-AUgovAntartica-Madrid_112-1" class="reference">[111] <sup id="cite_ref-113" class="reference">[112] The Madrid Protocol bans all mining in Antarctica, designating Antarctica a "natural reserve devoted to peace and science". HMS Endurance: the Royal Navy's former Antarctic patrol ship.The Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military activity in Antarctica, including the establishment of military bases and fortifications, military manoeuvres, and weapons testing. Military personnel or equipment are permitted only for scientific research or other peaceful purposes.<sup id="cite_ref-114" class="reference">[113] The only documented military land manoeuvre has been the small Operation NINETY by the Argentine military in 1965.<sup id="cite_ref-115" class="reference">[114]

Antarctic territories
Main article: Territorial claims in Antarctica The Argentine, British and Chilean claims all overlap, and have caused friction. On 18 December 2012, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office named a previously unnamed area Queen Elizabeth Land in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.<sup id="cite_ref-Foreign_&_Commonwealth_Office_Press_Release_116-0" class="reference">[115] On 22 December 2012, the UK ambassador to Argentina, John Freeman, was summoned to the Argentine government as protest against the claim.<sup id="cite_ref-BBC_News:_Argentine_Protest_Against_Queen_Elizabeth_Land_117-0" class="reference">[116] Argentine–UK relations had previously been damaged throughout 2012 due to disputes over the sovereignty of the nearby Falkland Islands, and the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.

The areas shown as Australia's and New Zealand's claims were British territory until they were handed over following the countries' independence. Australia currently claims the largest area. The claims of Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France and Norway are all recognised by each other.

Other countries participating as members of the Antarctic Treaty have a territorial interest in Antarctica, but the provisions of the Treaty do not allow them to make their claims while it is in force.<sup id="cite_ref-peecug1_118-0" class="reference">[117] <sup id="cite_ref-peecug2_119-0" class="reference">[118]
 * Brazil has a designated "zone of interest" that is not an actual claim.<sup id="cite_ref-Morris1988_120-0" class="reference">[119]
 * Peru has formally reserved its right to make a claim.<sup id="cite_ref-peecug1_118-1" class="reference">[117] <sup id="cite_ref-peecug2_119-1" class="reference">[118]
 * Russia has inherited the Soviet Union's right to claim territory under the original Antarctic Treaty.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-US-RusClaim_121-0" class="reference">[120]
 * South Africa has formally reserved its right to make a claim.<sup id="cite_ref-peecug1_118-2" class="reference">[117] <sup id="cite_ref-peecug2_119-2" class="reference">[118]
 * United States reserved its right to make a claim in the original Antarctic Treaty.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-US-RusClaim_121-1" class="reference">[120]

Economy
There is no economic activity in Antarctica at present, except for fishing off the coast and small-scale tourism, both based outside Antarctica.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-6" class="reference">[1]

Although coal, hydrocarbons, iron ore, platinum, copper, chromium, nickel, gold and other minerals have been found, they have not been in large enough quantities to exploit.<sup id="cite_ref-122" class="reference">[121] The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty also restricts a struggle for resources. In 1998, a compromise agreement was reached to place an indefinite ban on mining, to be reviewed in 2048, further limiting economic development and exploitation. The primary economic activity is the capture and offshore trading of fish. Antarctic fisheries in 2000–01 reported landing 112,934 tonnes.<sup id="cite_ref-123" class="reference">[122]  Post office Tangra 1091 Antarctic postal services of the Bulgarian scientific stationSmall-scale "expedition tourism" has existed since 1957 and is currently subject to Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol provisions, but in effect self-regulated by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). Not all vessels associated with Antarctic tourism are members of IAATO, but IAATO members account for 95% of the tourist activity. Travel is largely by small or medium ship, focusing on specific scenic locations with accessible concentrations of iconic wildlife. A total of 37,506 tourists visited during the 2006–07 Austral summer with nearly all of them coming from commercial ships; 38,478 were recorded in 2015–16.<sup id="cite_ref-124" class="reference">[123] <sup id="cite_ref-125" class="reference">[124] <sup id="cite_ref-126" class="reference">[125]

There has been some concern over the potential adverse environmental and ecosystem effects caused by the influx of visitors. Some environmentalists and scientists have made a call for stricter regulations for ships and a tourism quota.<sup id="cite_ref-127" class="reference">[126] The primary response by Antarctic Treaty Parties has been to develop, through their Committee for Environmental Protection and in partnership with IAATO, "site use guidelines" setting landing limits and closed or restricted zones on the more frequently visited sites. Antarctic sightseeing flights (which did not land) operated out of Australia and New Zealand until the fatal crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 in 1979 on Mount Erebus, which killed all 257 aboard. Qantas resumed commercial overflights to Antarctica from Australia in the mid-1990s.

Antarctic fisheries in 1998–99 (1 July – 30 June) reported landing 119,898 tonnes legally.<sup id="cite_ref-128" class="reference">[127]

About thirty countries maintain about seventy research stations (40 year-round or permanent, and 30 summer-only) in Antarctica, with an approximate population of 4000 in summer and 1000 in winter.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-7" class="reference">[1]

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 "AQ" is assigned to the entire continent regardless of jurisdiction. Different country calling codes and currencies<sup id="cite_ref-129" class="reference">[128] are used for different settlements, depending on the administrating country. The Antarctican dollar, a souvenir item sold in the United States and Canada, is not legal tender.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-8" class="reference">[1] <sup id="cite_ref-Symes_130-0" class="reference">[129]

Research
See also: Research stations in Antarctica A full moon and 25-second exposure allowed sufficient light for this photo to be taken at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station during the long Antarctic night. The station can be seen at far left, the power plant in the centre and the mechanic's garage in the lower right. The green light in the background is the aurora.Each year, scientists from 28 different nations conduct experiments not reproducible in any other place in the world. In the summer more than 4,000 scientists operate research stations; this number decreases to just over 1,000 in the winter.<sup id="cite_ref-CIAfactbook-People_1-9" class="reference">[1] McMurdo Station, which is the largest research station in Antarctica, is capable of housing more than 1,000 scientists, visitors, and tourists.

Researchers include biologists, geologists, oceanographers, physicists, astronomers, glaciologists, and meteorologists. Geologists tend to study plate tectonics, meteorites from outer space, and resources from the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. Glaciologists in Antarctica are concerned with the study of the history and dynamics of floating ice, seasonal snow, glaciers, and ice sheets. Biologists, in addition to examining the wildlife, are interested in how harsh temperatures and the presence of people affect adaptation and survival strategies in a wide variety of organisms. Medical physicians have made discoveries concerning the spreading of viruses and the body's response to extreme seasonal temperatures. Astrophysicists at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station study the celestial dome and cosmic microwave background radiation. Many astronomical observations are better made from the interior of Antarctica than from most surface locations because of the high elevation, which results in a thin atmosphere; low temperature, which minimises the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere; and absence of light pollution, thus allowing for a view of space clearer than anywhere else on Earth. Antarctic ice serves as both the shield and the detection medium for the largest neutrino telescope in the world, built 2 km (1.2 mi) below Amundsen–Scott station.<sup id="cite_ref-131" class="reference">[130]

Since the 1970s an important focus of study has been the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica. In 1985, three British scientists working on data they had gathered at Halley Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf discovered the existence of a hole in this layer. It was eventually determined that the destruction of the ozone was caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) emitted by human products. With the ban of CFCs in the Montreal Protocol of 1989, climate projections indicate that the ozone layer will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070.<sup id="cite_ref-adelie_132-0" class="reference">[131]

In September 2006 NASA satellite data revealed that the Antarctic ozone hole was larger than at any other time on record, at 2,750,000 km2 (1,060,000 sq mi).<sup id="cite_ref-ozone_record_133-0" class="reference">[132] The impacts of the depleted ozone layer on climate changes occurring in Antarctica are not well understood.<sup id="cite_ref-adelie_132-1" class="reference">[131]

In 2007 The Polar Geospatial Center was founded. The Polar Geospatial Center uses geospatial and remote sensing technology to provide mapping services to American federally funded research teams. Currently, the Polar Geospatial Center can image all of Antarctica at 50 cm resolution every 45 days.<sup id="cite_ref-134" class="reference">[133]

On 6 September 2007 Belgian-based International Polar Foundation unveiled the Princess Elisabeth station, the world's first zero-emissions polar science station in Antarctica to research climate change. Costing $16.3 million, the prefabricated station, which is part of the International Polar Year, was shipped to the South Pole from Belgium by the end of 2008 to monitor the health of the polar regions. Belgian polar explorer Alain Hubert stated: "This base will be the first of its kind to produce zero emissions, making it a unique model of how energy should be used in the Antarctic." Johan Berte is the leader of the station design team and manager of the project which conducts research in climatology, glaciology and microbiology.<sup id="cite_ref-135" class="reference">[134]

In January 2008 British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists, led by Hugh Corr and David Vaughan, reported (in the journal Nature Geoscience) that 2,200 years ago, a volcano erupted under Antarctica's ice sheet (based on airborne survey with radar images). The biggest eruption in Antarctica in the last 10,000 years, the volcanic ash was found deposited on the ice surface under the Hudson Mountains, close to Pine Island Glacier.<sup id="cite_ref-136" class="reference">[135]

A study from 2014 estimated that during the Pleistocene, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) thinned by at least 500 m (1,600 ft), and that thinning since the Last Glacial Maximum for the EAIS area is less than 50 m (160 ft) and probably started after c. 14 ka.<sup id="cite_ref-137" class="reference">[136]

Meteorites
Antarctic meteorite, named ALH84001, from MarsMeteorites from Antarctica are an important area of study of material formed early in the solar system; most are thought to come from asteroids, but some may have originated on larger planets. The first meteorite was found in 1912, and named the Adelie Land meteorite. In 1969, a Japanese expedition discovered nine meteorites. Most of these meteorites have fallen onto the ice sheet in the last million years. Motion of the ice sheet tends to concentrate the meteorites at blocking locations such as mountain ranges, with wind erosion bringing them to the surface after centuries beneath accumulated snowfall. Compared with meteorites collected in more temperate regions on Earth, the Antarctic meteorites are well-preserved.<sup id="cite_ref-meteorite_138-0" class="reference">[137]

This large collection of meteorites allows a better understanding of the abundance of meteorite types in the solar system and how meteorites relate to asteroids and comets. New types of meteorites and rare meteorites have been found. Among these are pieces blasted off the Moon, and probably Mars, by impacts. These specimens, particularly ALH84001 discovered by ANSMET, are at the centre of the controversy about possible evidence of microbial life on Mars. Because meteorites in space absorb and record cosmic radiation, the time elapsed since the meteorite hit the Earth can be determined from laboratory studies. The elapsed time since fall, or terrestrial residence age, of a meteorite represents more information that might be useful in environmental studies of Antarctic ice sheets.<sup id="cite_ref-meteorite_138-1" class="reference">[137]

In 2006 a team of researchers from Ohio State University used gravity measurements by NASA's GRACE satellites to discover the 500-kilometre-wide (300 mi) Wilkes Land crater, which probably formed about 250 million years ago.<sup id="cite_ref-crater_139-0" class="reference">[138]

In January 2013 an 18 kg (40 lb) meteorite was discovered frozen in ice on the Nansen ice field by a Search for Antarctic Meteorites, Belgian Approach (SAMBA) mission.<sup id="cite_ref-140" class="reference">[139]

In January 2015 reports emerged of a 2-kilometre (1.2 mi) circular structure, supposedly a meteorite crater, on the surface snow of King Baudouin Ice Shelf. Satellite images from 25 years ago seemingly show it.

Ice mass and global sea level
See also: Current sea level risePlay media The motion of ice in AntarcticaDue to its location at the South Pole, Antarctica receives relatively little solar radiation except along the southern summer. This means that it is a very cold continent where water is mostly in the form of ice. Precipitation is low (most of Antarctica is a desert) and almost always in the form of snow, which accumulates and forms a giant ice sheet which covers the land. Parts of this ice sheet form moving glaciers known as ice streams, which flow towards the edges of the continent. Next to the continental shore are many ice shelves. These are floating extensions of outflowing glaciers from the continental ice mass. Offshore, temperatures are also low enough that ice is formed from seawater through most of the year. It is important to understand the various types of Antarctic ice to understand possible effects on sea levels and the implications of global cooling.

Sea ice extent expands annually in the Antarctic winter and most of this ice melts in the summer. This ice is formed from the ocean water and floats in the same water and thus does not contribute to rise in sea level. The extent of sea ice around Antarctica has remained roughly constant in recent decades, although the thickness changes are unclear.<sup id="cite_ref-United_Nations_Environment_Programme_141-0" class="reference">[140] <sup id="cite_ref-National_Snow_and_Ice_Data_Center_142-0" class="reference">[141]

Melting of floating ice shelves (ice that originated on the land) does not in itself contribute much to sea-level rise (since the ice displaces only its own mass of water). However, it is the outflow of the ice from the land to form the ice shelf which causes a rise in global sea level. This effect is offset by snow falling back onto the continent. Recent decades have witnessed several dramatic collapses of large ice shelves around the coast of Antarctica, especially along the Antarctic Peninsula. Concerns have been raised that disruption of ice shelves may result in increased glacial outflow from the continental ice mass.<sup id="cite_ref-RignotCasassa2004_143-0" class="reference">[142]

On the continent itself, the large volume of ice present stores around 70% of the world's fresh water.<sup id="cite_ref-howstuffworks_53-1" class="reference">[52] This ice sheet is constantly gaining ice from snowfall and losing ice through outflow to the sea.

Sheperd et al. 2012, found that different satellite methods for measuring ice mass and change were in good agreement and combining methods leads to more certainty with East Antarctica, West Antarctica, and the Antarctic Peninsula changing in mass by +14 ± 43, −65 ± 26, and −20 ± 14 gigatonnes (Gt) per year.<sup id="cite_ref-IMBIE2012_144-0" class="reference">[143] The same group's 2018 systematic review study estimated that ice loss across the entire continent was 43 gigatonnes per year on average during the period from 1992 to 2002 but has accelerated to an average of 220 gigatonnes per year during the five years from 2012 to 2017.<sup id="cite_ref-IMBIE2018_145-0" class="reference">[144] NASA's Climate Change website indicates a compatible overall trend of greater than 100 gigatonnes of ice loss per year since 2002.<sup id="cite_ref-landice_146-0" class="reference">[145]

A single 2015 study by H. Jay Zwally et al. found instead that the net change in ice mass is slightly positive at approximately 82 gigatonnes per year (with significant regional variation) which would result in Antarctic activity reducing global sea-level rise by 0.23 mm per year.<sup id="cite_ref-ZwallyEtAl2015_147-0" class="reference">[146] However, one critic, Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, states that this outlying study's findings "are at odds with all other independent methods: re-analysis, gravity measurements, mass budget method, and other groups using the same data" and appears to arrive at more precise values than current technology and mathematical approaches would permit.<sup id="cite_ref-arstech20151103_148-0" class="reference">[147]

East Antarctica is a cold region with a ground base above sea level and occupies most of the continent. This area is dominated by small accumulations of snowfall which becomes ice and thus eventually seaward glacial flows. The mass balance of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet as a whole is thought to be slightly positive (lowering sea level) or near to balance.<sup id="cite_ref-ShepherdWingham2007_149-0" class="reference">[148] <sup id="cite_ref-RignotBamber2008_150-0" class="reference">[149] <sup id="cite_ref-Shepherdetal2012_151-0" class="reference">[150] However, increased ice outflow has been suggested in some regions.<sup id="cite_ref-RignotBamber2008_150-1" class="reference">[149] <sup id="cite_ref-ChenWilson2008_152-0" class="reference">[151]

Effects of global warming
Warming trend from 1957 to 2006See also: Global warming in Antarctica and Antarctic sea iceSome of Antarctica has been warming up; particularly strong warming has been noted on the Antarctic Peninsula. A study by Eric Steig published in 2009 noted for the first time that the continent-wide average surface temperature trend of Antarctica is slightly positive at >0.05 °C (0.09 °F) per decade from 1957 to 2006. This study also noted that West Antarctica has warmed by more than 0.1 °C (0.2 °F) per decade in the last 50 years, and this warming is strongest in winter and spring. This is partly offset by autumn cooling in East Antarctica.<sup id="cite_ref-SteigSchneider2009_153-0" class="reference">[152] There is evidence from one study that Antarctica is warming as a result of human carbon dioxide emissions,<sup id="cite_ref-Gillett2008_154-0" class="reference">[153] but this remains ambiguous.<sup id="cite_ref-Steig2013_155-0" class="reference">[154] The amount of surface warming in West Antarctica, while large, has not led to appreciable melting at the surface, and is not directly affecting the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's contribution to sea level. Instead the recent increases in glacier outflow are believed to be due to an inflow of warm water from the deep ocean, just off the continental shelf.<sup id="cite_ref-PayneVieli2004_156-0" class="reference">[155] <sup id="cite_ref-ThomaJenkins2008_157-0" class="reference">[156] The net contribution to sea level from the Antarctic Peninsula is more likely to be a direct result of the much greater atmospheric warming there.<sup id="cite_ref-158" class="reference">[157]

In 2002 the Antarctic Peninsula's Larsen-B ice shelf collapsed.<sup id="cite_ref-159" class="reference">[158] Between 28 February and 8 March 2008, about 570 km2 (220 sq mi) of ice from the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the southwest part of the peninsula collapsed, putting the remaining 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq mi) of the ice shelf at risk. The ice was being held back by a "thread" of ice about 6 km (4 mi) wide,<sup id="cite_ref-160" class="reference">[159] <sup id="cite_ref-161" class="reference">[160] prior to its collapse on 5 April 2009.<sup id="cite_ref-162" class="reference">[161] <sup id="cite_ref-163" class="reference">[162] According to NASA, the most widespread Antarctic surface melting of the past 30 years occurred in 2005, when an area of ice comparable in size to California briefly melted and refroze; this may have resulted from temperatures rising to as high as 5 °C (41 °F).<sup id="cite_ref-164" class="reference">[163]

A study published in Nature Geoscience in 2013 (online in December 2012) identified central West Antarctica as one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth. The researchers present a complete temperature record from Antarctica's Byrd Station and assert that it "reveals a linear increase in annual temperature between 1958 and 2010 by 2.4±1.2 °C".<sup id="cite_ref-165" class="reference">[164]

Ozone depletion
Image of the largest Antarctic ozone hole ever recorded due to CFCs accumulation (September 2006)Main article: Ozone depletionThere is a large area of low ozone concentration or "ozone hole" over Antarctica. This hole covers almost the whole continent and was at its largest in September 2008, when the longest lasting hole on record remained until the end of December.<sup id="cite_ref-166" class="reference">[165] The hole was detected by scientists in 1985<sup id="cite_ref-schiermeier2009_167-0" class="reference">[166] and has tended to increase over the years of observation. The ozone hole is attributed to the emission of chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs into the atmosphere, which decompose the ozone into other gases.<sup id="cite_ref-168" class="reference">[167]

Some scientific studies suggest that ozone depletion may have a dominant role in governing climatic change in Antarctica (and a wider area of the Southern Hemisphere).<sup id="cite_ref-schiermeier2009_167-1" class="reference">[166] Ozone absorbs large amounts of ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere. Ozone depletion over Antarctica can cause a cooling of around 6 °C in the local stratosphere. This cooling has the effect of intensifying the westerly winds which flow around the continent (the polar vortex) and thus prevents outflow of the cold air near the South Pole. As a result, the continental mass of the East Antarctic ice sheet is held at lower temperatures, and the peripheral areas of Antarctica, especially the Antarctic Peninsula, are subject to higher temperatures, which promote accelerated melting.<sup id="cite_ref-schiermeier2009_167-2" class="reference">[166] Models also suggest that the ozone depletion/enhanced polar vortex effect also accounts for the recent increase in sea ice just offshore of the continent.<sup id="cite_ref-169" class="reference">[168]

There are deposits of minerals such as coal and iron ore in Antarctica, but there are vast economic and technical difficulties associated with the recovery of mineral deposits. The Antarctic ice cover is, on average, 2.5 km thick and this means that very little of the land is accessible for exploration, so work would have to take place under the ice sheet. The difficult Antarctic conditions, even when the technology works well elsewhere, make exploitation unlikely.

Once minerals are mined, Antarctica is a long way from world markets, and material would have to be transported over the treacherous Southern Ocean. Cheaper sources exist elsewhere in the world, and these will be exploited before Antarctic sources.

So far, the economics of extracting resources from the harsh Antarctic environment have prevented any commercial operations, but Antarctica's climate may not protect its minerals indefinitely. What can prevent such exploitation is a strong, well-supported international agreement. Nations of the Antarctic Treaty system agreed in 1991 to put a halt to the exploitation of minerals when they signed a comprehensive Protocol on Environmental Protection (the Madrid Protocol), which banned mining in Antarctica indefinitely. This important agreement came into force in January 1998.

Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance

Signed at Washington December 1, 1959 Entered into force June 23, 1961

Narrative Treaty Text

Narrative

The Antarctic Treaty, the earliest of the post-World War II arms limitation agreements, has significance both in itself and as a precedent. It demilitarized the Antarctic Continent and provided for its cooperative exploration and future use. It has been cited as an example of nations exercising foresight and working in concert to prevent conflict before it develops. Based on the premise that to exclude armaments is easier than to eliminate or control them once they have been introduced, the treaty served as a model, in its approach and even in its specific provisions, for later "non-armament" treaties -- the treaties that excluded nuclear weapons from outer space, from Latin America, and from the seabed.

By the 1950s, seven nations -- Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom -- claimed territorial sovereignty over areas of Antarctica. Claims of Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom overlapped. Eight other nations -- the United States, the Soviet Union, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Japan, and South Africa -- had engaged in exploration but had put forward no specific claims. The United States did not recognize the claims of other governments and reserved the right to assert claims. The Soviet Union took a similar position.

Activities in the Antarctic had generally been conducted peacefully and cooperatively. Yet the possibility that exploitable economic resources might be found meant the possibility of future rivalry for their control. Moreover, isolated and uninhabited, the continent might at some time become a potential site for deploying nuclear weapons.

Fortunately, international scientific associations were able to work out arrangements for effective cooperation. In 1956 and 1957, for example, American meteorologists "wintered over" at the Soviet post Mirnyy, while Soviet meteorologists "wintered over" at Little America. These cooperative activities culminated in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958 (IGY), a joint scientific effort by 12 nations -- Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States -- to conduct studies of the Earth and its cosmic environment.

In the years after World War II, as interest grew in keeping the continent from becoming militarized, there began diplomatic discussion of the possibility of formalizing a demilitarization arrangement. On May 3, 1958, the United States proposed to the other 11 nations participating in the IGY that a conference be held, based on the points of agreement that had been reached in informal discussions:

(1) that the legal status quo of the Antarctic Continent remain unchanged; (2) that scientific cooperation continue; (3) that the continent be used for peaceful purposes only.

All 11 nations accepted the U.S. invitation. The Washington Conference on Antarctica met from October 15 to December 1, 1959. No insurmountable conflicts or issues divided the conference, and negotiations culminated in a treaty signed by all 12 nations on December 1, 1959. After the U.S. Senate provided its advice and consent, the U.S. ratification was deposited on August 18, 1960, and the treaty entered into force on June 23, 1961, when the formal ratifications of all the participating nations had been deposited.

The treaty provides that Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only. It specifically prohibits "any measures of a military nature, such as the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying out of military maneuvers, as well as the testing of any type of weapons." (The Treaty does not prohibit the use of military personnel or equipment, however, for scientific research or for any other peaceful purpose.) Nuclear explosions and the disposal of radioactive waste material in Antarctica are prohibited.

The Treaty provides for designation of observers to carry out inspections in all areas of Antarctica, including all stations, installations and equipment, and ships and aircraft at discharge or embarkation points. Each observer has complete freedom of access at any time to any or all areas of Antarctica. Currently there are 50 Parties to the treaty, of whom 28 are Consultative Parties that participate in decision-making at Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs). Consultative Parties now include the original 12 Contracting Parties, as well as Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and Uruguay. The United States has conducted 14 inspections since 1963.

For the first time, in 2012 the U.S teamed with another country to conduct joint inspections of third-party Antarctic stations. In January 2012, a team of four officials from the United States and four from the Russian Federation inspected research facilities operated jointly by France and Italy (Concordia), Italy (Mario Zucchelli), and New Zealand (Scott Base). And in November-December 2012, a similar US-Russia team inspected which research facilities operated by Belgium (Princess Elisabeth Station), China (Zhongshan Station), India (Bharati and Maitri), Japan (Syowa), and Norway (Troll) – all in East Antarctica. A report of this second phase inspection will be presented jointly by the United States and Russia at the next Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

Thirty-five ATCMs have been held in accordance with Article IX of the Treaty, most recently in Australia in June 2012. Numerous recommendations and measures in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty have been adopted, many of which have now entered into force. The next ATCM will be in Brussels, Belgium in May 2013.

The Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs coordinates U.S. efforts on Antarctic matters, and more information on U.S. Antarctic policy is available at: http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/opa/c6528.htm

For further information on U.S. Antarctic Treaty Inspections, see: http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/opa/inspection/index.htm 

For the Secretary’s remarks commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty see: http://www.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2009a/04/121314.htm

Treaty Text

The Antarctic Treaty

Signed at Washington December 1, 1959 Ratification advised by U.S. Senate August 10, 1960 Ratified by U.S. President August 18, 1960 U.S. ratification deposited at Washington August 18, 1960 Proclaimed by U.S. President June 23, 1961 Entered into force June 23, 1961

The Governments of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, the French Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Union of South Africa, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America,

Recognizing that it is in the interest of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord;

Acknowledging the substantial contributions to scientific knowledge resulting from international cooperation in scientific investigation in Antarctica;

Convinced that the establishment of a firm foundation for the continuation and development of such cooperation on the basis of freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica as applied during the International Geophysical Year accords with the interests of science and the progress of all mankind;

Convinced also that a treaty ensuring the use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes only and the continuance of international harmony in Antarctica will further the purposes and principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations;

Have agreed as follows:

Article I

1. Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only. There shall be prohibited, inter alia, any measures of a military nature, such as the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying out of military maneuvers, as well as the testing of any type of weapons.

2. The present treaty shall not prevent the use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes.

Article II

Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation toward that end, as applied during the International Geophysical Year, shall continue, subject to the provisions of the present treaty.

Article III

1. In order to promote international cooperation in scientific investigation in Antarctica, as provided for in Article II of the present treaty, the Contracting Parties agree that, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable:

(a) information regarding plans for scientific programs in Antarctica shall be exchanged to permit maximum economy and efficiency of operations;

(b) scientific personnel shall be exchanged in Antarctica between expeditions and stations;

(c) scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available.

2. In implementing this Article, every encouragement shall be given to the establishment of cooperative working relations with those Specialized Agencies of the United Nations and other international organizations having a scientific or technical interest in Antarctica.

Article IV

1. Nothing contained in the present treaty shall be interpreted as:

(a) a renunciation by any Contracting Party of previously asserted rights of or claims to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica;

(b) a renunciation or diminution by any Contracting Party of any basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica which it may have whether as a result of its activities or those of its nationals in Antarctica, or otherwise;

(c) prejudicing the position of any Contracting Party as regards its recognition or non-recognition of any other States right of or claim or basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.

2. No acts or activities taking place while the present treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica. No new claim, or enlargement of an existing claim, to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica shall be asserted while the present treaty is in force.

Article V

1. Any nuclear explosions in Antarctica and the disposal there of radioactive waste material shall be prohibited.

2. In the event of the conclusion of international agreements concerning the use of nuclear energy, including nuclear explosions and the disposal of radioactive waste material, to which all of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX are parties, the rules established under such agreements shall apply in Antarctica.

Article VI

The provisions of the present treaty shall apply to the area south of 60o South Latitude, including all ice shelves, but nothing in the present treaty shall prejudice or in any way affect the rights, or the exercise of the rights, of any State under international law with regard to the high seas within that area.

Article VII

1. In order to promote the objectives and ensure the observance of the provisions of the present treaty, each Contracting Party whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings referred to in Article IX of the treaty shall have the right to designate observers to carry out any inspection provided for by the present Article. Observers shall be nationals of the Contracting Parties which designate them. The names of observers shall be communicated to every other Contracting Party having the right to designate observers, and like notice shall be given of the termination of their appointment.

2. Each observer designated in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall have complete freedom of access at any time to any or all areas of Antarctica.

3. All areas of Antarctica, including all stations, installations and equipment within those areas, and all ships and aircraft at points of discharging or embarking cargoes or personnel in Antarctica, shall be open at all times to inspection by any observers designated in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article.

4. Aerial observation may be carried out at any time over any or all areas of Antarctica by any of the Contracting Parties having the right to designate observers.

5. Each Contracting Party shall, at the time when the present treaty enters into force for it, inform the other Contracting Parties, and thereafter shall give them notice in advance, of

(a) all expeditions to and within Antarctica, on the part of its ships or nationals, and all expeditions to Antarctica organized in or proceeding from its territory;

(b) all stations in Antarctica occupied by its nationals; and

(c) any military personnel or equipment intended to be introduced by it into Antarctica subject to the conditions prescribed in paragraph 2 of Article I of the present treaty.

Article VIII

1. In order to facilitate the exercise of their functions under the present treaty, and without prejudice to the respective positions of the Contracting Parties relating to jurisdiction over all other persons in Antarctica, observers designated under paragraph 1 of Article VII and scientific personnel exchanged under subparagraph 1(b) of Article III of the treaty, and members of the staffs accompanying any such persons, shall be subject only to the jurisdiction of the Contracting Party of which they are nationals in respect of all acts or omissions occurring while they are in Antarctica for the purpose of exercising their functions.

Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, and pending the adoption of measures in pursuance of subparagraph 1(e) of Article IX, the Contracting Parties concerned in any case of dispute with regard to the exercise of jurisdiction in Antarctica shall immediately consult together with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable solution.

Article IX

1. Representatives of the Contracting Parties named in the preamble to the present treaty shall meet at the City of Canberra within two months after the date of entry into force of the treaty, and thereafter at suitable intervals and places, for the purpose of exchanging information, consulting together on matters of common interest pertaining to Antarctica, and formulating and considering, and recommending to their Governments, measures in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the treaty, including measures regarding:

(a) use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes only;

(b) facilitation of scientific research in Antarctica;

(c) facilitation of international scientific cooperation in Antarctica;

(d) facilitation of the exercise of the rights of inspection provided for in Article VII of the treaty;

(e) questions relating to the exercise of jurisdiction in Antarctica;

(f) preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica.

2. Each Contracting Party which has become a party to the present treaty by accession under Article XIII shall be entitled to appoint representatives to participate in the meetings referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article, during such time as that Contracting Party demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial scientific research activity there, such as the establishment of a scientific station or the despatch of a scientific expedition.

3. Reports from the observers referred to in Article VII of the present treaty shall be transmitted to the representatives of the Contracting Parties participating in the meetings referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article.

4. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall become effective when approved by all the Contracting Parties whose representatives were entitled to participate in the meetings held to consider those measures.

5. Any or all of the rights established in the present treaty may be exercised from the date of entry into force of the treaty whether or not any measures facilitating the exercise of such rights have been proposed, considered or approved as provided in this Article.

Article X

Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes to exert appropriate efforts, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations, to the end that no one engages in any activity in Antarctica contrary to the principles or purposes of the present treaty.

Article XI

1. If any dispute arises between two or more of the Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the present treaty, those Contracting Parties shall consult among themselves with a view to having the dispute resolved by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement or other peaceful means of their own choice.

2. Any dispute of this character not so resolved shall, with the consent, in each case, of all parties to the dispute, be referred to the International Court of Justice for settlement; but failure to reach agreement on reference to the International Court shall not absolve parties to the dispute from the responsibility of continuing to seek to resolve it by any of the various peaceful means referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.

Article XII

1.

(a) The present treaty may be modified or amended at any time by unanimous agreement of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX. Any such modification or amendment shall enter into force when the depositary Government has received notice from all such Contracting Parties that they have ratified it.

(b) Such modification or amendment shall thereafter enter into force as to any other Contracting Party when notice of ratification by it has been received by the depositary Government. Any such Contracting Party from which no notice of ratification is received within a period of two years from the date of entry into force of the modification or amendment in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph 1(a) of this Article shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the present treaty on the date of the expiration of such period.

2.

(a) If after the expiration of thirty years from the date of entry into force of the present treaty, any of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX so requests by a communication addressed to the depositary Government, a Conference of all the Contracting Parties shall be held as soon as practicable to review the operation of the treaty.

(b) Any modification or amendment to the present treaty which is approved at such a Conference by a majority of the Contracting Parties there represented, including a majority of those whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX, shall be communicated by the depositary Government to all the Contracting Parties immediately after the termination of the Conference and shall enter into force in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of the present Article.

(c) If any such modification or amendment has not entered into force in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph 1(a) of this Article within a period of two years after the date of its communication to all the Contracting Parties, any Contracting Party may at any time after the expiration of that period give notice to the depositary Government of its withdrawal from the present treaty; and such withdrawal shall take effect two years after the receipt of the notice of the depositary Government.

Article XIII

1. The present treaty shall be subject to ratification by the signatory States. It shall be open for accession by any State which is a Member of the United Nations, or by any other State which may be invited to accede to the treaty with the consent of all the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX of the treaty.

2. Ratification of or accession to the present treaty shall be effected by each State in accordance with its constitutional processes.

3. Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Government of the United States of America, hereby designated as the depositary Government.

4. The depositary Government shall inform all signatory and acceding States of the date of each deposit of an instrument of ratification or accession, and the date of entry into force of the treaty and of any modification or amendment thereto.

5. Upon the deposit of instruments of ratification by all the signatory States, the present treaty shall enter into force for those States and for States which have deposited instruments of accession. Thereafter the treaty shall enter into force for any acceding State upon the deposit of its instrument of accession.

6. The present treaty shall be registered by the depositary Government pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

Article XIV

The present treaty, done in the English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each version being equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America, which shall transmit duly certified copies thereof to the Governments of the signatory and acceding States.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly authorized, have signed the present treaty.

DONE at Washington this first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine.

Transport in Antarctica has transformed from explorers crossing the isolated remote area of Antarctica by foot to a more open era due to human technologies enabling more convenient and faster transport, predominantly by air and water, as well as land. Transportation technologies on a remote area like Antarctica need to be able to deal with extremely low temperatures and continuous winds to ensure the travelers' safety. Due to the fragility of the Antarctic environment, only a limited amount of transport movements can take place and sustainable transportation technologies have to be used to reduce the ecological footprint. The infrastructure of land, water and air transport needs to be safe and sustainable. Currently thousands of tourists and hundreds of scientists a year depend on the Antarctic transportation system.

Contents

 * 1 Land transport
 * 1.1 Roads
 * 1.2 Vehicles
 * 2 Water transport
 * 3 Air transport
 * 4 See also
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

Roads
Winds continuously blow snow on roads in Antarctica.

The South Pole Traverse (McMurdo–South Pole highway) is approximately 1,450 km (900 mi) long and links the United States' McMurdo Station on the coast to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. It was constructed by leveling snow and filling in crevasses, but is not paved. There are flags to mark the route.

Also, the United States Antarctic Program maintains two ice roads during the austral summer. One provides access to Pegasus Field on the Ross Ice Shelf. The ice road between Pegasus Field and McMurdo Station is about 14 miles. The other road provides access to the Ice Runway, which is on sea ice. The road between the Ice Runway and McMurdo Station varies in length from year to year depending on many factors, including ice stability. These roads are critical for resupplying McMurdo Station, Scott Base, and Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.

Vehicles
The scarcity and poor quality of road infrastructure limits land transportation by conventional vehicles.

A normal car on tires has very limited capability for Antarctic conditions. Scientific bases are often built on snow free areas (oases) close to the ocean. Around these stations and on a hard packed snow or ice, tire based vehicles can drive but on deeper and softer snow, a normal tire based vehicle cannot travel. Due to these limitation vehicles on belts have been the preferred option in Antarctica. In 1997 two specialized cars with very large tires running tire pressure as low as 1.5psi/0.1bar travelled onto the high Antarctica Plateau, giving strong indication that tire based vehicles could be an option for efficient travelling in Antarctica.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

Mawson Station started using classic Volkswagen Beetles, the first production cars to be used in Antarctica. The first of these was named "Antarctica 1".

In December 1997 into February 1998 two AT44, 4x4 cars (built in Iceland by Arctic Trucks with tire size of 44-inch tall) joined an expedition by the Swedish Polar Institution (SWEA). The cars got used to transport people and supplies from the Ice shelf to WASA station, to perform scanning of the snow and support a drilling expedition to on the Antarctica Plateau 76°S 8°03'W. This is the first time tire based vehicles successfully travel on the Antarctica high plateau.

In 2006 a team of six people took part in the Ice Challenger Expedition. Travelling in a specially designed six wheel drive vehicle, the team completed the journey from the Antarctic coast at Patriot Hills to the geographic South Pole in 69 hours. In doing so they easily beat the previous record of 24 days. They arrived at the South Pole on December 12, 2005.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference">[1]

The team members on that expedition were Andrew Regan, Jason De Carteret, Andrew Moon, Richard Griffiths, Gunnar Egilsson and Andrew Miles. The expedition successfully showed that wheeled transport on the continent is not only possible but also often more practical. The expedition also hoped to raise awareness about global warming and climate change.

From start of December 2008 into February 2009, four AT44, 4x4 cars were used to support a ski race by Amundsen Omega 3, from S82° 41' E17° 43' to South Pole. A film was made of this race by BBC called "On Thin Ice" with Ben Fogle and James Cracknell. The cars started from Novo airbase at S70° 49' E11° 38', establish a route onto the plateau through the crevasse areas in the Shcherbakov Mountain Range driving nearly 1500 km to the start line of the ski race. For the return journey each car covered between 5400 and 5800 km with one fuel depot on the way.

From 2008 to date (Dec 2015) tire based cars, AT44 4x4 and AT44 6x6 have been used every season to support various NGO and scientific expedition/projects, supporting flights, fuel drops, filming, skiers, biker, a tractor, collecting snow samples and more. The combined distance covered on the Antarctica Plateau is over 220 thousand km and even though towing capacity is much lower than for most belt based vehicles, the tire based cars multiply the travel speed and use only a fraction of the fuel making this an option for some expeditions/projects.

A second expedition led by Andrew Regan and Andrew Moon departed in November 2010. The Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition this time traversed the entire continent twice, using two six-wheel-drive vehicles and a Concept Ice Vehicle designed by Lotus.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference">[2] This time the team used the expedition to raise awareness about the global environmental importance of the Antarctic region and to show that biofuel can be a viable and environmentally friendly option.

<span class="mw-headline" id="Water_transport">Water transport
A tour boat in fast ice near the coastAntarctica's only harbour is at McMurdo Station. Most coastal stations have offshore anchorages, and supplies are transferred from ship to shore by small boats, barges, and helicopters. A few stations have a basic wharf facility. All ships at port are subject to inspection in accordance with Article 7, Antarctic Treaty. Offshore anchorage is sparse and intermittent, but poses no problem to sailboats designed for the ice, typically with lifting keels and long shorelines. McMurdo Station ( 77°51′S 166°40′E ), Palmer Station ( 64°43′S 64°03′W ); government use only except by permit (see Permit Office under "Legal System"). A number of tour boats, ranging from large motorized vessels to small sailing yachts, visit the Antarctic Peninsula during the summer months (January–March). Most are based in Ushuaia, Argentina. ==<span class="mw-headline" id="Air_transport">Air transport == Transport in Antarctica takes place by air, using fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Runways and helicopter pads have to be kept snow free to ensure safe take off and landing conditions.

Antarctica has 20 airports, but there are no developed public-access airports or landing facilities. Thirty stations, operated by 16 national governments party to the Antarctic Treaty, have landing facilities for either helicopters and/or fixed-wing aircraft; commercial enterprises operate two additional air facilities.

Helicopter pads are available at 27 stations; runways at 15 locations are gravel, sea-ice, blue-ice, or compacted snow suitable for landing wheeled, fixed-wing aircraft; of these, one is greater than 3 km in length, six are between 2 km and 3 km in length, 3 are between 1 km and 2 km in length, three are less than 1 km in length, and two are of unknown length; snow surface skiways, limited to use by ski-equipped, fixed-wing aircraft, are available at another 15 locations; of these, four are greater than 3 km in length, three are between 2 km and 3 km in length, two are between 1 km and 2 km in length, two are less than 1 km in length, and data is unavailable for the remaining four.

Antarctic airports are subject to severe restrictions and limitations resulting from extreme seasonal and geographic conditions; they do not meet ICAO standards, and advance approval from the respective governmental or nongovernmental operating organization is required for landing (1999 est.) Flights to the continent in the permanent darkness of the winter are normally only undertaken in an emergency, with burning barrels of fuel to outline a runway. On September 11, 2008, a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III successfully completed the first landing in Antarctica using night-vision goggles at Pegasus Field.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">[3]

In April 2001 an emergency evacuation of Dr. Ronald Shemenski was needed from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station when he contracted pancreatitis. Three C-130 Hercules were called back before their final leg because of weather. Organizers then called on Kenn Borek Air based in Calgary, Alberta. Two de Havilland Twin Otters were dispatched out of Calgary with one being back-up. Twin Otters are specifically designed for the Canadian north and Kenn Borek Air's motto is "Anywhere, Anytime, World-Wide". The mission was a success but not without difficulties and drawbacks. Ground crews needed to create a 2 km runway with tracked equipment not designed to operate in the low temperatures at that time of year, the aircraft controls had to be "jerry-rigged" when the flaps were frozen in position after landing, and instruments were not reliable because of the cold. When they saw a "faint pink line on the horizon" they knew they were going in the right direction. This was the first rescue from the South Pole during winter.<sup id="cite_ref-CNNtranscript-2001-04-26_4-0" class="reference">[4] Canada honoured the Otter crew for bravery.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">[5] <sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">[6] Christchurch is the aerial gateway to Antarctica with around 100 direct flights each year.

Christchurch Airport's Antarctic connection began in 1955 with the arrival of eight US Air Force aircraft for Operation Deep Freeze. The aircraft left from Harewood Airfield for the 14-hour flight to McMurdo Station. Operation Deep Freeze still remains at the airport today, and with the arrival of the International Antarctic Centre in 1992, Christchurch continues to embrace its' Antarctic connection.

Did you know?

 * The Antarctic air logistic operations of the US, Italy, South Korea and New Zealand are staged through Christchurch Airport to McMurdo Sound.
 * Every summer the military aircraft of these nations complete some 100 flights to the continent and move over 5,500 passengers and 1,400 tonnes of cargo.
 * The US's McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base are approximately 3,920km by air from Christchurch.
 * The flight to the Antarctic from Christchurch takes about five hours in a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster or seven hours in a Hercules C-130.  You can view these aircraft in the image gallery below.
 * Weather disruptions are common and during the 2005/06 summer season nearly one-quarter of all flights were delayed. In the same season the re-supply ship was stranded for three weeks in some of the worst sea-ice conditions in over 20 years.
 * https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/about-bas/our-organisation/our-policies/
 * World War I has often been said to mark the end of the ‘Age of Imperialism’—the close of ‘that final surge of land hunger’ (Landes 1969) from 1880 to 1914 when much of the world's land surface, especially in Africa and the Pacific, was acquired by the major powers. Britain's large share was demonstrated by the predominance of red on pre-1914 maps, though in fact the British Empire achieved its greatest area after 1918; ‘… including India’, reported the 1920 Colonial Office List, ‘the Empire now extends over 11 million of square miles, or 91 times the area of the Mother Country’ (Mercer 1920). This study examines one specific part of British imperial policy in the immediate post-war years—one which, had it been fully implemented, would have increased the area by a further 40 per cent. In the view of L. S. Amery, Under-Secretary of State at the Colonial Office and one of Britain's leading politicians of the time, it was desirable that:

… the whole of the Antarctic should ultimately be included within the British Empire, and that, while the time has not yet arrived that a claim to all the continental territories should be put forward publicly, a definite and consistent policy should be followed of extending and asserting British control with the object of ultimately making it complete.

Seven sovereign states maintain a territorial claim on eight territories in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and study facilities within their respective claimed territories. A number of such facilities are located nowhere near their country's sector, however. Many nations such as Russia and the US have no claim anywhere in Antarctica, yet have large research facilities within the sectors of foreign countries.

Contents

 * 1 History
 * 1.1 Spanish claims
 * 1.2 British claims
 * 1.3 Other European claims
 * 1.4 South American involvement
 * 1.5 Postwar developments
 * 1.6 Towards an international treaty
 * 2 Antarctic territorial claims
 * 2.1 Official claims
 * 2.2 Overlapping claims
 * 2.3 Unclaimed
 * 2.4 Possible future claims
 * 3 Antarctic Treaty
 * 4 See also
 * 5 Notes
 * 6 References

<span class="mw-headline" id="Spanish_claims">Spanish claims
According to Argentina and Chile, the Spanish Empire had claims on Antarctica. The capitulación (governorship) granted to the conquistador Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz explicitly included all lands south of the Straits of Magellan (Terra Australis, and Tierra del Fuego and by extension the entire continent of Antarctica). This grant established, according to Argentina and Chile, that an animus occupandi existed on the part of Spain in Antarctica. Spain's sovereignty claim over parts of Antarctica was, according to Chile and Argentina, internationally recognized with the Inter caetera bull of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as legal international treaties mediated by the Catholic Church that was at that time a recognized arbiter in such matters.<sup id="cite_ref-Prieto2004_1-0" class="reference">[1] Each country currently has claim a sector of the Antarctic continent that is more or less directly south of its national antarctic-facing lands.

<span class="mw-headline" id="British_claims">British claims
As Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Leopold Amery aimed to assert British sovereignty over the entire continent of Antarctica.The United Kingdom reasserted sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the far South Atlantic in 1833 and maintained a continuous presence there. In 1908, the British government extended its territorial claim by declaring sovereignty over "South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, and the (South) Sandwich Islands, and Graham's Land, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean and on the Antarctic continent to the south of the 50th parallel of south latitude, and lying between the 20th and the 80th degrees of west longitude".<sup id="cite_ref-IntLaw_2-0" class="reference">[2] All these territories were administered as Falkland Islands Dependencies from Stanley by the Governor of the Falkland Islands. The motivation for this declaration lay in the need to regulate and tax the whaling industry effectively. Commercial operators would hunt whales in areas outside the official boundaries of the Falkland Islands and its dependencies, and there was a need to close this loophole.

In 1917, the wording of the claim was modified, so as to unambiguously include all the territory in the sector stretching to the South Pole (thus encompassing all the present British Antarctic Territory). The new claim covered "all islands and territories whatsoever between the 20th degree of west longitude and the 50th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 50th parallel of south latitude; and all islands and territories whatsoever between the 50th degree of west longitude and the 80th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 58th parallel of south latitude".<sup id="cite_ref-IntLaw_2-1" class="reference">[2]

It was the ambition of Leopold Amery, then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, that Britain incorporate the entire continent into the Empire. In a memorandum to the governors-general for Australia and New Zealand, he wrote that 'with the exception of Chile and Argentina and some barren islands belonging to France... it is desirable that the whole of the Antarctic should ultimately be included in the British Empire.' The first step was taken on 30 July 1923, when the British government passed an Order in Council under the British Settlements Act 1887, defining the new borders for the Ross Dependency—"that part of His Majesty's Dominions in the Antarctic Seas, which comprises all the islands and territories between the 160th degree of East Longitude and the 150th degree of West Longitude which are situated south of the 60th degree of South Latitude shall be named the Ross Dependency." The Order in Council then went on to appoint the Governor-General and Commander-in Chief of New Zealand as the Governor of the territory.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">[3]

In 1930, the United Kingdom claimed Enderby Land. In 1933, a British imperial order transferred territory south of 60° S and between meridians 160° E and 45° E to Australia as the Australian Antarctic Territory.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference">[4] <sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">[5]

Following the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the government of the United Kingdom relinquished all control over the government of New Zealand and Australia. This however had no bearing on the obligations of the governors-general of both countries in their capacity as Governors of the Antarctic territories.

<span class="mw-headline" id="Other_European_claims">Other European claims
Discovery and claim of French sovereignty on Adélie Land by Jules Dumont d'Urville, in 1840.The basis for the claim to Adélie Land by France depended on the discovery of the coastline in 1840 by the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, who named it after his wife, Adèle.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">[6]. He erected the French flag and took possession of the land for France, on January 21st, 1840 at 5:30 PM.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference">[7]

The British eventually decided to recognize this claim, and the border between Adélie Land and the Australian Antarctic Territory was fixed definitively in 1938.<sup id="cite_ref-mawson_8-0" class="reference">[8]

These developments also concerned Norwegian whaling interests, which wished to avoid British taxation of whaling stations in the Antarctic and felt concerns that they would be commercially excluded from the continent. The whale-ship owner Lars Christensen financed several expeditions to the Antarctic with the view to claiming land for Norway and to establishing stations on Norwegian territory to gain better privileges.<sup id="cite_ref-k52_9-0" class="reference">[9] The first expedition, led by Nils Larsen and Ola Olstad, landed on Peter I Island in 1929 and claimed the island for Norway. On 6 March 1931 a Norwegian royal proclamation declared the island under Norwegian sovereignty<sup id="cite_ref-k52_9-1" class="reference">[9] and on 23 March 1933 the island was declared a dependency.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference">[10] <sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference">[note 1]

The 1929 expedition led by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen and Finn Lützow-Holm named the continental landmass near the island as Queen Maud Land after the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales.<sup id="cite_ref-npi_12-0" class="reference">[11] The territory was explored further during the Norvegia expedition of 1930–31.<sup id="cite_ref-snl_13-0" class="reference">[12] Negotiations with the British government in 1938 resulted in setting the western border of Queen Maud Land at 20°W.<sup id="cite_ref-snl_13-1" class="reference">[12]  Norwegian expedition landing on Peter I Island island in 1929.The United States, Chile, the Soviet Union and Germany disputed Norway's claim.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference">[13] <sup id="cite_ref-admle_15-0" class="reference">[14] In 1938 Nazi Germany dispatched the German Antarctic Expedition, led by Alfred Ritscher, to fly over as much of it as possible.<sup id="cite_ref-snl_13-2" class="reference">[12] The ship Schwabenland reached the pack ice off Antarctica on 19 January 1939.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference">[15] During the expedition, Ritscher photographed an area of about 350,000 square kilometres (140,000 sq mi) from the air<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference">[16] and dropped darts inscribed with swastikas every 26 kilometres (16 mi). However, despite intensively surveying the land, Germany never made any formal claim or constructed any lasting bases.<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference">[17]

On 14 January 1939, five days before the German arrival, Norway annexed Queen Maud Land<sup id="cite_ref-npi_12-1" class="reference">[11] after a royal decree announced that the land bordering the Falkland Islands Dependencies in the west and the Australian Antarctic Dependency in the east was to be brought under Norwegian sovereignty.<sup id="cite_ref-snl_13-3" class="reference">[12] The primary aim of the annexation was to secure the Norwegian whaling industry's access to the region.<sup id="cite_ref-npi_12-2" class="reference">[11] <sup id="cite_ref-npo1_19-0" class="reference">[18] In 1948 Norway and the United Kingdom agreed to limit Queen Maud Land to from 20°W to 45°E, and to incorporate the Bruce Coast and Coats Land into Norwegian territory.<sup id="cite_ref-snl_13-4" class="reference">[12]

<span class="mw-headline" id="South_American_involvement">South American involvement
Omond House was built in 1904 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition as the first permanent base in Antarctica. It was later sold to Argentina.Upon independence in the early 19th century South American nations based their boundaries upon the uti possidetis iuris principle. This meant there was no land without a sovereign. Chile and Argentina applied this to Antarctica citing the Inter caetera bull of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as legal international treaties mediated by the Catholic Church that was in that time a recognized arbiter in these matters.<sup id="cite_ref-Prieto2004_1-1" class="reference">[1]

This encroachment of foreign powers was a matter of immense disquiet to the nearby South American countries, Argentina and Chile. Taking advantage of a European continent plunged into turmoil with the onset of the Second World War, Chile's president, Pedro Aguirre Cerda declared the establishment of a Chilean Antarctic Territory in areas already claimed by Britain.

Argentina has a long history in the area,<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference">[19] In 1904 the Argentine government began a permanent occupation in one of the Antarctic islands with the purchase of a meteorological station on Laurie Island established in 1903 by Dr William S. Bruce's Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. Bruce offered to transfer the station and instruments for the sum of 5.000 pesos, on the condition that the government committed itself to the continuation of the scientific mission.<sup id="cite_ref-RREE_21-0" class="reference">[20] British officer William Haggard also sent a note to the Argentine Foreign Minister, José Terry, ratifying the terms of Bruce proposition.<sup id="cite_ref-RREE_21-1" class="reference">[20]

In 1906, Argentina communicated to the international community the establishment of a permanent base on South Orkney Islands, the Orcadas Base. However, Haggard responded by reminding Argentina that the South Orkneys were British. The British position was that Argentine personnel was granted permission only for the period of one year. The Argentine government entered into negotiations with the British in 1913 over the possible transfer of the island. Although these talks were unsuccessful, Argentina attempted to unilaterally establish their sovereignty with the erection of markers, national flags and other symbols. <sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference">[21] Finally, with British attention elsewhere, Argentina declared the establishment of Argentine Antarctica in 1943, claiming territory in the continent itself, and not just islands, and it overlapped with British ( 20°W to 80°W) and the earlier Chilean (53°W to 90°W) claims.

In response to this and earlier German explorations, the British Admiralty and Colonial Office launched Operation Tabarin in 1943 to reassert British territorial claims against Argentinian and Chilean incursion and establish a permanent British presence in the Antarctic.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference">[22] The move was also motivated by concerns within the Foreign Office about the direction of United States post-war activity in the region.

A suitable cover story was the need to deny use of the area to the enemy. The Kriegsmarine was known to use remote islands as rendezvous points and as shelters for commerce raiders, U-boats and supply ships. Also, in 1941, there existed a fear that Japan might attempt to seize the Falkland Islands, either as a base or to hand them over to Argentina, thus gaining political advantage for the Axis and denying their use to Britain.

In 1943, British personnel from HMS Carnarvon Castle<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference">[23] removed Argentine flags from Deception Island. The expedition was led by Lieutenant James Marr and left the Falkland Islands in two ships, HMS William Scoresby (a minesweeping trawler) and Fitzroy, on Saturday January 29, 1944.

Bases were established during February near the abandoned Norwegian whaling station on Deception Island, where the Union Flag was hoisted in place of Argentine flags, and at Port Lockroy (on February 11) on the coast of Graham Land. A further base was founded at Hope Bay on February 13, 1945, after a failed attempt to unload stores on February 7, 1944. Symbols of British sovereignty, including post offices, signposts and plaques were also constructed and postage stamps were issued.

Operation Tabarin provoked Chile to organise its First Chilean Antarctic Expedition in 1947–48, where the Chilean president Gabriel González Videla personally inaugurated one of its bases.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference">[24]

Following the end of the war in 1945, the British bases were handed over to civilian members of the newly created Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (subsequently the British Antarctic Survey) the first such national scientific body to be established in Antarctica.

<span class="mw-headline" id="Postwar_developments">Postwar developments
Hut built at Hope Bay in 1903. It was there that the only instance of shots fired in anger on the Continent occurred in 1952.Friction between Britain and the Latin American states continued into the postwar period. Royal Navy warships were dispatched in 1948 to prevent naval incursions. The only instance of shots fired in anger on Antarctica occurred in 1952 at Hope Bay, when staff at British Base "D" (established 1945) came up against the Argentine team at Esperanza Base (est. 1952), who fired a machine gun over the heads of a British Antarctic Survey team unloading supplies from the John Biscoe. The Argentines later extended a diplomatic apology, saying that there had been a misunderstanding and that the Argentine military commander on the ground had exceeded his authority.

The United States became politically interested in the Antarctic continent before and during WWII. The United States Antarctic Service Expedition, from 1939-1941, was sponsored by the government with additional support from donations and gifts by private citizens, corporations and institutions. The objective of the Expedition, outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was to establish two bases: East Base, in the vicinity of Charcot Island, and West Base, in the vicinity of King Edward VII Land. After operating successfully for two years, but with international tensions on the rise, it was considered wise to evacuate the two bases.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference">[25] However, immediately after the war, American interest was rekindled with an explicitly geopolitical motive. Operation Highjump, from 1946-1947 was organised by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd Jr. and included 4,700 men, 13 ships, and multiple aircraft. The primary mission of Operation Highjump was to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV,<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference">[26] for the purpose of training personnel and testing equipment in frigid conditions and amplifying existing stores of knowledge of hydrographic, geographic, geological, meteorological and electromagnetic propagation conditions in the area. The mission was also aimed at consolidating and extending United States sovereignty over the largest practicable area of the Antarctic continent, although this was publicly denied as a goal even before the expedition ended.

<span class="mw-headline" id="Towards_an_international_treaty">Towards an international treaty
The International Geophysical Year was pivotal in establishing a cooperative international framework in Antarctica, and led on to the Antarctic Treaty System in 1959.Meanwhile, in an attempt at ending the impasse, Britain submitted an application to the International Court of Justice in 1955 to adjudicate between the territorial claims of Britain, Argentina, and Chile. This proposal failed, as both Latin American countries rejected submitting to an international arbitration procedure.<sup id="cite_ref-Dodds_28-0" class="reference">[27]

Negotiations towards the establishment of an international condominium over the continent first began in 1948, involving the 8 claimant countries: Britain, Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A., France, Norway, Chile and Argentina. This attempt was aimed at excluding the Soviet Union from the affairs of the continent and rapidly fell apart when the USSR declared an interest in the region, refused to recognize any claims of sovereignty and reserved the right to make its own claims in 1950.<sup id="cite_ref-Dodds_28-1" class="reference">[27]

An important impetus toward the formation of the Antarctic Treaty System in 1959 was the International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958. This year of international scientific cooperation triggered an 18-month period of intense Antarctic science. More than 70 existing national scientific organisations then formed IGY committees, and participated in the cooperative effort. The British established Halley Research Station in 1956 by an expedition from the Royal Society. Sir Vivian Fuchs headed the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958. In Japan, the Japan Maritime Safety Agency offered ice breaker Sōya as the South Pole observation ship and Showa Station was built as the first Japanese observation base on Antarctica.

France contributed with Dumont d'Urville Station and Charcot Station in Adélie Land. The ship Commandant Charcot of the French Navy spent nine months of 1949/50 at the coast of Adelie Land, performing ionospheric soundings.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference">[28] The US erected the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station as the first permanent structure directly over the South Pole in January 1957.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference">[29]

Finally, to prevent the possibility of military conflict in the region, the United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and 9 other countries with significant interests negotiated and signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. The treaty entered into force in 1961 and sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, established freedom of scientific investigation, and banned military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference">[30]

<span class="mw-headline" id="Antarctic_territorial_claims">Antarctic territorial claims
Territorial claims in AntarcticaSeven sovereign states had made eight territorial claims to land in Antarctica south of the 60° S parallel before 1961. These claims have been recognized only between the countries making claims in the area. All claim areas are sectors, with the exception of Peter I Island. None of these claims have an indigenous population. The South Orkney Islands fall within the territory claimed by Argentina and the United Kingdom, and the South Shetland Islands fall within the areas claimed by Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom. The UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and Norway all recognize each other's claims.<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference">[31] None of these claims overlap. Prior to 1962, British Antarctic Territory was a dependency of the Falkland Islands and also included South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Antarctic areas became a separate overseas territory following the ratification of the Antarctic Treaty. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands remained a dependency of the Falkland Islands until 1985 when they too became a separate overseas territory.

<span class="mw-headline" id="Possible_future_claims">Possible future claims
There has been speculation about possible future claims<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]. The United States and Russia (as successor state of the Soviet Union) maintain they have reserved the right to make claims and there have also been speculations on Brazil making a claim bounded by 53° W and 28° W,<sup id="cite_ref-Brazil_33-0" class="reference">[32] overlapping thus with the Argentine and British claims but not with the Chilean. Peru made a reservation of its territory rights under the principle of Antarctic defrontation and influence on its climate, ecology and marine biology, adducing, in addition, geological continuity and historical links.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference">[33]

Uruguayan adhesion to Antarctic Treaty System includes a declaration in that it reserves its rights in Antarctica in accordance with international law.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference">[34] Main article: List of Antarctic and subantarctic islandsIn 1967 Ecuador declared its right over an area bounded by 84°30' W and 95°30' W. The claim was ratified in 1987.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference">[35]

Four island territories on the Antarctic Plate located north of the 60° South circle of latitude are associated with the continent of Antarctica. None of these territories has an indigenous population. Another territory, shared between South American Plate and Scotia Plate, is sometime associated with the continent of Antarctica.
 * Bouvet Island (Dependency of Norway)
 *  French Southern Territories<sup id="cite_ref-FSI_37-0" class="reference">[36] <sup id="cite_ref-SIIO_38-0" class="reference">[37]
 * Heard Island and McDonald Islands (External dependent territory of Australia)
 * Prince Edward Islands (South African territory)
 *  South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)

<span class="mw-headline" id="Antarctic_Treaty">Antarctic Treaty
Main article: Antarctic Treaty SystemThe Antarctic Treaty and related agreements regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. The treaty has now been signed by 48 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and the now-defunct Soviet Union. The treaty set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, established freedom of scientific investigation and banned military activity on that continent. This was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the United States both filed reservations against the restriction on new claims,<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference">[38] and the United States and Russia assert their right to make claims in the future if they so choose. Brazil maintains the Comandante Ferraz (the Brazilian Antarctic Base) and has proposed a theory to delimiting territories using meridians, which would give it and other countries a claim. In general, territorial claims below the 60° S parallel have only been recognised among those countries making claims in the area. However, although claims are often indicated on maps of Antarctica, this does not signify de jure recognition.

All claim areas, except Peter I Island, are sectors, the borders of which are defined by degrees of longitude. In terms of latitude, the northern border of all sectors is the 60° S parallel which does not cut through any piece of land, continent or island, and is also the northern limit of the Antarctic Treaty. The southern border of all sectors collapses in one point, the South Pole. Only the Norwegian sector is an exception: the original claim of 1930 did not specify a northern or a southern limit, so that its territory is only defined by eastern and western limits.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference">[note 2]

The Antarctic Treaty states that contracting to the treaty: What the treaty does affect is new claims: <p style="text-align:justify;">The inspiration behind Hapgood’s work was a radio discussion on 26 August 1956 between Arlington Humphrey Mallery (1877-1968), an engineer then working for the US Navy Hydrographic Office, Rev Daniel L Linehan SJ (1904-1987), director and chief seismologist of the Weston Observatory at Boston College, and Rev Francis Heyden (1907-1991), director of the Georgetown University Observatory. Mallery, something of a student of the history of cartography and an amateur archaeologist, had formed the view that the bays and islands depicted at the bottom of Piri’s map were hidden beneath the ice of Queen Maud Land (Antarctica). After reading a transcript of the broadcast, Hapgood contacted Mallery and, having obtained a copy of the map, set his students to work examining it.
 * is not a renunciation of any previous territorial claim.
 * does not affect the basis of claims made as a result of activities of the signatory nation within Antarctica.
 * does not affect the rights of a State under customary international law to recognise (or refuse to recognise) any other territorial claim.
 * No activities occurring after 1961 can be the basis of a territorial claim.
 * No new claim can be made.
 * No claim can be enlarged.

Hapgood’s attempt to impose a grid on Piri Re‘is’s map <p style="text-align:justify;">Hapgood’s account of the investigation, in Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings (1966) is tedious to anyone, like me, with little or no interest or ability in maths. He detected the use of a grid on late medieval portolan charts and suggested that a similar grid was used by Piri; he conjectured that it was based on Syene (Aswan, Egypt) and that similar grids were used on other early medieval maps. This may have been a correct deduction (although it appears not to be generally accepted by historians of cartography, who believe that portolans were based on compass directions), but it is the next stage of Hapgood’s analysis where the claims made for the map go way beyond the evidence.

<p style="text-align:justify;">Hapgood started with the belief that the Piri Re‘is map was an accurate depiction of South America and part of Antarctica but when close analysis showed that it was not accurate in any projection he and his students applied to it, had to come up with a reason why it contained errors. Given that Piri stated that he had used “about twenty charts and Mappae Mundi” and that some of them were “drawn in the days of Alexander”, Hapgood conjectured that Piri’s map (or its sources) had wrongly combined numerous earlier sources of varying scale, orientation and projection. In this way, small sections of coastline were drawn accurately but each section had to be looked at in isolation. Worse, some parts of the coastline were missing (so that the Strait of Magellan was not depicted, for instance) and some were duplicated. In this way, Hapgood and his students could rescue Piri’s map from any suggestion of inaccuracy.

<p style="text-align:justify;">Unfortunately, Hapgood has misunderstood what Piri says about the sources for his map. Here is Piri’s note in full: This section shows how this map was drawn. In this century, there is no map like this in anyone’s possession: the hand of this poor man has drawn it and now it is assembled from about twenty charts and Mappae Mundi (these are charts drawn in the days of Alexander, Lord of the Two Horns, which show the inhabited quarter of the world). The Arabs name these charts Caferiye. I have compiled it from eight Caferiyes of that kind, one Arab map of India, from the maps recently drawn by four Portuguese that show the countries of India, Sindh and China drawn geometrically, and also from a map drawn by Columbus in the western region. The present form was achieved by reducing all these maps to a single scale so that this map is as correct and reliable for the Seven Seas as the map of our own countries is considered accurate and reliable by sailors. <p style="text-align:justify;">It is quite clear from this that Piri’s only source for the “western region” was a map he attributed to Columbus. The Mappae Mundi “drawn in the days of Alexander” were not charts 1800 years old when Piri acquired them but maps based on Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographical Guide (Γεωγραφικὴ Ύφήγησις, more commonly known as the Geography), which had become the standard for accurate mapping in the Arab world and in Christian Europe after a text was brought from Constantinople in 1400. Rather than dating from “the days of Alexander”, the original work dated from c 150 CE and although the only copy that Maximos Planoudes (Μάξιμος Πλανούδης, c 1260-c 1305) was able to locate in Constantinople in 1295 had lost its maps, the tenth-century al-Masʿūdī (أبو الحسن علي بن الحسين بن علي المسعودي, Abu al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Masʿūdī c 896-956) was familiar with a copy that may have retained them. These maps dealt with only those parts of the world known to Ptolemy; Piri used more recent maps to update them.

<p style="text-align:justify;">What this means is that Hapgood’s attempt to rescue his hypothesis is just plain wrong: Piri is absolutely explicit that his only source for the “western region” was a chart he believed to have been compiled by Christopher Columbus. Piri may or may not have been correct in this belief, but either way, his sole source for the western continent was a map deriving from the voyages to the New World by European explorers after 1492. Had there been earlier maps available to him, we would have to explain why he did not mention them as sources.

What about Antarctica?
<p style="text-align:justify;">So, why did Piri show a land apparently south of the South Atlantic? Is this evidence for an early discovery of Antarctica? Alas, no. The authority of Arlington H Mallery is not quite what it seems: although fringe writers tend to refer to him as an expert on historic maps and an archaeologist, with the implication that his work for the US Navy’s Hydrographic Office was connected with cartography, this is not correct. He was a civil engineer and inventor of a swivelling head block transfer bridge for transferring railway trucks to and from canal barges that is still known as the Mallery Type. He was an enthusiast for old maps and his archaeological opinions were a long way from the mainstream. In 1951, he published Lost America: The Story of the Pre-Columbian Iron Age in America, in which he argued that there was an Iron Age in North America, inaugurated by Viking settlers. He was, to put it bluntly, a crank.

Piri Re‘is’s map as replotted by Ayşe Afet İnan, showing placenames that identify places in Argentina <p style="text-align:justify;">We can dismiss Mallery as an authority, but does this mean that Hapgood was also wrong to identify the land at the bottom (south) of the map as Antarctica? To see it as such, one must ignore the placenames written in this area, as transcribed in Ayşe Afet İnan’s The Oldest Map of America, Drawn by Pirî Reis (1954, Ankara). They include Rio de laplata, San Matias, Porto Deseado and Porto San julean. These are clearly the Río de la Plata, Golfo San Matías, Puerto Deseado and Puerto San Julián. In other words, this is a depiction of the coast of Argentina, twisted through 90° to fit onto the parchment! There is no depiction of Antarctica here.

<p style="text-align:justify;">Hapgood brought a series of maps – principally those of Orontius Finaeus (1494-1555), Hadji Ahmed and Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) – to bear on the question of knowledge of an Antarctic continent at a much earlier date than is usually believed. The maps he used are superficially impressive: they depict a continent that somewhat resembles what we now know to be the shape of Antractica, albeit one much larger than the real continent. In particular, they lack the Antarctic Peninsula, the continent’s most prominent and characteristic coastal feature.

The Orontius Finaeus map of 1531: note that Terra Australis (the supposed Antarctic continent) is recenter inventa sed nondum plene cognita (“recently discovered but not yet fully known”) and appears to include the northern coast of Australia <p style="text-align:justify;">Those who get excited by these supposed maps of Antarctica that pre-date its discovery take the maps as if they exist in a vacuum. They completely ignore books and papers written by the cartographers themselves, which often explain the methods they used. Piri was a careful scholar who listed his sources; they ignore the fact that those who depicted a southern continent did so on the basis of speculation about the balance of land in the two hemispheres; they fail to read the captions on the maps that make it clear that certain elements are conjectured or recently discovered.

<p style="text-align:justify;">There is nothing in these early modern maps, then, that needs explanation. We understand a lot about the context of their production and often have the very words of those who made them. We know their sources and, much of the time, the voyages of discovery that enabled Arabs and Europeans to chart previously unknown coastlines. These maps are interesting for what they show and also for what they do not: the Piri Re’is map, for instance, does not show inland details as it was made by sailors as a navigation aid, quite different from von Däniken’s idea that it was copied from an ancient aerial survey. The real mystery is why so many fringe writers continue to promote them.

Like Alaska's mighty Yukon, a broad river once flowed across Antarctica, following a gentle valley shaped by tectonic forces at a time before the continent became encased in ice. Understanding what happened when rivers of ice later filled the valley could solve certain climate and geologic puzzles about the southernmost continent.

The valley is Lambert Graben in East Antarctica, now home to the world's largest glacier. Trapped beneath the ice, the graben (which is German for ditch or trench) is a stunning, deep gorge. But before Antarctica's deep freeze 34 million years ago, the valley was relatively flat and filled by a lazy river, leaving a riddle for geologists to decode: How did Lambert Graben get so steep, and when was it carved?

The key to Lambert Graben's history was found in layers of sediments just offshore, in Prydz Bay. In a new study, Stuart Thomson, a geologist at the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson, looked into the past by decoding sands deposited by the river, and the messy piles left behind by the glacier. The river sands are topped with a thick layer of coarser sediment that signals the onset of glacial erosion in the valley, the researchers found. The erosion rate more than doubled when the glaciers moved in, Thomson said.

"The only way that could happen is from glaciers," he said. "They started grinding and forming deep valleys."

Understanding when glaciers first wove their way across Antarctica will help scientists better model the ice sheet's response to Earth's climate shifts, the researchers said.

"There's a big effort to model how glaciers flow in Antarctica, and these models need a landscape over which glaciers can flow," Thomson told OurAmazingPlanet. "Once these models can predict past changes, they can more accurately predict what will happen with future climate changes."

The sediments also hold clues to the tectonic evolution of East Antarctica, and a mountain range buried beneath the vast, thick ice sheet. [Album: Stunning Photos of Antarctic Ice]

The findings are detailed in the March 2013 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.

History of the ice

Lambert Graben formed during the breakup of Gondwana, an ancient supercontinent, a process that happened in stages. Antarctica, India and Africa tore apart in the Late Cretaceous (about 80 million years ago). The split created long, linear valleys oriented perpendicular to the continental coastlines. At the time, Earth's climate was warmer than it is today, and as Antarctica moved southward, settling into its home over the South Pole, the continent teemed with plants and animals. Antarctica and the Gondwana supercontinent, 150 million years ago.Credit: WHOI Scientists can partially reconstruct this past environment with fossils and through radar that peers beneath the ice to map the shapes of the rock below. A 3D map of Antarctica today shows chasms carved by glaciers, rugged mountains and other remnants of its warmer existence.

But the surveys tell nothing about how the landscape looked before the ice carved out all those features. "People have speculated when the big fjords formed under the ice," Thomson said. "But no one knows for sure until you sample the rocks or the sediments."

Thomson and his colleagues analyzed sediments drilled from the ocean floor just offshore of Lambert Glacier, as well as from onshore moraines, the rock piles pushed up by glaciers. Tests on minerals in the sands and muds helped them figure out when and how fast the surface eroded.

Here's what the sediments say: From about 250 million to 34 million years ago, the region around Lambert Glacier was relatively flat, and drained by slow-moving rivers, Thomson said. About 34 million years ago, which coincides with a cooling of Earth's climate, big glaciers appeared, shaping the spectacular valley now hidden under thick ice.

"It seemed like it occurred very early on, 34 [million] to 24 million years ago," Thomson said. Erosion slowed dramatically as the ice sheet stabilized about 15 million years ago, he said.

Some 5,250 to 8,200 feet (1.6 to 2.5 kilometers) of rock have since disappeared, ground down by glaciers and carried away by the ice, according to the study.

"Glaciers can carve deep valleys quickly — and did so on Antarctica before it got so cold that the most of it got covered by 1 or 2 miles [1.6 to 3.2 km] of thick, stationary ice," Peter Reiners, a UA geologist and study co-author, said in a statement.

Clues to buried mountain range

Lambert Graben extends about 375 miles (600 km) inland, ending at one of Antarctica's most enigmatic features — an entombed mountain range called the Gamburtsev Mountains. Buried under the ice, the mountains rose during Gondwana's rifting. Geologic evidence suggests two pulses of upliftfrom rifting events about 250 million years ago and 100 million years ago pushed up the jagged peaks.

But Thomson and his colleagues did not find evidence in the sediments for a second uplift phase 100 million years ago. The river sands contain minerals from the Gamburtsev Mountains, and the tiny grains suggest the mountains got their height with one tectonic push.

Something just as valuable as me and it would set us back Caretaker Angels of outer space.Its my belongings that need to be protected and bring them all to my people afterlife next flife to the European Pretender Gobot race space muslims.Take my stuff and put it in a storage on island poles continent empty out my bedroom to bring them to the shelves with all of the goodies.They will look at what I collected and my pc.My music CD's and for them to play now deceased bands from my room.Rock music.Have my whole collection and they will have my stuff for me to play we need some sort of electric interface to run them on my media entertainment electronics at home.Very valuable from this solar system.Shipped by war vessel to my planet or Caretaker Angels of space ship.Then let me put in a cd song from my big bands.Match me with the storage.Only the Caretaker Angels of space will know where I am biologically.When I am a soul inside my mother Drewzelda is my shemale mother.Zelda will be my mother.My parents would imput correcting my mistakes.They live outgoing and nightlife.They would act responsible.Being raised on this planet and island continent tribally put for them to be more responsible.They are among elite as they were taught in school here.They enter things in their life like nightlife but she does not forget her upbringngs and being taught lessons in life.Attractive women but self sufficient and can journey in space.Complicated things.They came out with excellent schooling and excellent grades in math.They would be in parents age group and have parent like powers.They are patient.They know their way around the entire island continent.They travelled.They have confidence.Reliable on having their car tuned.They have a clean and tidy home and condo.They cook food together with teamwork and are space muslims.They are clean.They are used to complicated simple tribal place.Tribal means futuristic and modern.They live in complicated society.Even to bussing and classes.We would have a trip to UFP to see baseball and the real earth class.Our trip would be to make arrangements and leave from space or space port to travel to the Federation.There we could visit their museums.And ball park with tickets to see the Blue Jays.Enjoy the food and tourism there.My schooling as I have never been to university.Next time schooling and to achieve my academics.To be smart in sciences like I am and in geography.I will get my scores in math this time.Next slew of friends.Some guy friends and girl friends.My day of skipping class and practicing my powers of superhero.Being queen I can skip a few classes.But to go to adult self reliant schooling or just graduate.How to make a world for the Queen and hobbies I know now as my favourite Paranormal shows.Queen must visit a university and attend of my poles island continent.We have 100's of universities that are mature students.I want my grade school teachers to teach and follow me to university.My parents can make a request and plan.Familiar faces.My growing lego for my civilization to start buying into my lego company.And my amusment parks.Dinosaur amusement park and the RC Remote control park.Since I'm wealthy and can walk in streets of seashore historic city for my daughters,shemales.They would be in angel form.Their grandma will allow me to take a 5yr leave.I have Janine who is learning she is younger than Amanda and Feroxia.School and format and going to the adult life center to regain my old friends.Stay connected with my friends.So I hit 20 years old again.My guitar and instrument playing.My music set and collection of metal and rock,thrash.This time I'll have my motorcycle and electric bike.To get around my island poles continent.Visit parents faster to setup my own estate residence in historic city.Starting a family and my pets.My bobcat and wildcat.Sharks and garden with a creek on my property for the sharks.I want to wire up my home with ultra speekers and a theater for entertainment,music and tv.Watch tv from space on terminal.Estate for my family unborn and extends my old room from condo.Use of my powers to walking and getting around playing instruments.Going camping with my parents and younger child.We will have a cabin but I can fly up in the air to get us a better site away from our cabin.I just go up above and use my powers.We always have excellent site and can see the roads and facilities.We're never in trouble and just in case.We have at our cabin an ATV but longer with a trunk or compartment for carrying supplies and groceries from the facility.Cabin's have a path for ATV.They understand child psychology and have children shemales they have taken care of my sisters.I was born in confussion.I want my family straightened out in gender instead of figuring out at 50yrs old when everything is over.My children and all of us.That is why attractive women parents and travel billions of light years in vortex.Next time it will not be any of God's mistakes and disorder.More healthy.Problems solved by my parents and I have nothing blocking my way in peace.They are very understanding of children and their own.They are companions that avoided accidents and sturdy couple of the public in space.They are very orderly.They are like teachers and having things organized and are quiet.They are not free going partiers.They stay to themselves and adopt from their tribal background.They are very disciplined and keep to that way.They enjoy the nature and areas of island poles continent.They enjoy space and being futuristic space travellers.They are part of the public.They have responsibilities and having me part of their family answers to responsbilities.They have their holidays and are busy.My parents will have me in their early retirement.They found a school that I come home from from part of the day there.Part of the day to be there in morning.This is my home sweet home.It provides everything for me billions of light years in vortex dimension.Its my all out home since North America earth class Sol System.Its my home and I have nothing blocking me.Everything is free and all of my money in trillions of dollars and more.Drinking coffee and staying up in hours of my island continent that I get to be with the stars more often and watch from my home.And having coffee like juice.Coffee is milk.I can have it and pour my family coffee.Nothing to hold us back from being nocturnal.Better way of life on the poles.Enjoy life and wake up many days and staying up during the day in poles where the afternoon is like night time in seasons.Reverse for night time.I can do work being in the nocturnal world.I can do things that are fun and work on this Zarconian wikia and Zarco Macross wikidot.I can stay at home and watch media entertainment,music full blast inside my property.Play video games and watch movies.Do computer artwork.Go outside bicycling.Go to the places that are open at nocturnal hours.Read books and my book collection of encyclopedias.Then when I recharge and sleep during the morning cleaning up with a sonic shower or shower.My mouth and teeth.Hang around my estate.I have pets like my bobcat,wildcat and pet sharks.I am one of the most wealthy.I am myself here nothing to hide and feel imprisoned.Free in what I am to my furthest.We will have a white cloudy holiday in week to celebrate religion and school.Historic.And video games.We have family gather with us on cloudy white day that is holiday and most of the time its cloudy white on this day.We take trips and meet my grandparents.We go out of the city to the suburbs.We take tour walk and visit with explanation.Bicycles,motorized bicycles.We stay at and sleep overnight and wake up in morning from hotel.Last day of holiday per week.We take commuting back from our trips.Bicycles can transform to foldup compact and ride on commuting back home.Take our video games.We meet up with my teachers.Day to remember the past.My parents to administer me to music school.And for me to grow up and learn all of musics.From piano and drums to guitar and to have regular schooling.My parents would be happy.Not their days at being in public eye and government.This is why they have loads of money to take care of them.We don't use the military's money.Military money is separate then the society.Our money is personel and private.The military spends on what they need from their alliances.They have interests and hobbies to painting and arts like me.They grow nature and plants.They have assorted dance music and folk music.My history and background led me to my demise from Allah.He made me compatible to wrong group of old fashion people couples.They failed and I need night life attractive women parents changed because of raising children shemales.I need by force by the Space Caretaker Evolution Process Angels to break the old fashion in my genes and correct things by putting me in my parent, Drewzelda.She would be taken to hospital in space and procedure done by the Angel workers to reverse Allah's work that was backwards.My amount of money I will be born very wealthy.Zeta is Zelda.My parents have loads of money from their work and stature.They both work in a corporation.My mothers both of them have royal bloodlines.When I go through another dimension I change colors and my hair is colorful violet.My clothes colors of a garden.Master race in space and I am getting repaired in another dimension in a vortex.Physical out of date structure replaced of Master race.Making the changes colorful and my dress shirt hangs over my new jeans.My eyes are colorful and I need in this galaxy to do errands and stints in a limited amount of time going to 2100.New Queen Armada with colorfulness and just like from heaven but from another many dimensions.Taller and smarter and more brilliant.So my colors that were out of date replaced in the change the Evolution Process Caretaker Angels and their ship travelled from Jupiter and Sol System's system.I need to become more aware of things and changed like my drawings.My body that week or days in hospital will have an operation by the angels to extract my body to a spacecraft using ambulance.There will be no body in fake grave.They need to work on reversing what Allah did to my genes and soul.Its like they are glued to something ignorant.Man and women as couple have led to my failure.They got me from a Galactica hiearchy of attractive women.They were not witches at all from back then.We have no time for non-sense from Allah.Jupiter is the team that will get the ship ready to transfer the body to others going to my destination closer to my parents billion light years in another dimension.Angels will capture the soul in body of Feroz and go to work on it in supernatural world.Problems during the trip.Final transfer of the body process will have been done to make a grave in space during the voyage.Now soul is in the angel's ship and transfer the soul to my quadrant and people European Pretender space race and for me to be part of my fate as the master race from 2 attractive women one shemale and a female my parents.They live so far from here and this is the way Creator from Billions of Light Years has maintained his galaxies.His is more efficient.He has sections of more than the Quran from worlds to worlds and his own knowledge.He did not have problems from European Pretenders to do with witches.They have simple backgrounds and are tribally taught as a theme.They know of types of peaceful witchcraft.From religion which has sections like the Quran.My characteristics and we in the ship go through interdimensional change for the best for Feroz.My name will change and we all speak backwards as a language.Retain english from Sol System.I Feroz would be born as their first.My body is to have a place to store each of my shemale daughters souls in my body.She might be an orb in my upper body for the place for souls.They would all live inside all of them all 14 of them.As a transexual mother they can exercise themselves in soul form.They all are in monuments and Janine was from here earth in Sweden.Evolution Process Angels go to work on my body and soul in another world in space travel.The many galaxies and astrology to find the right galaxy in another of the many dimensions with solar systems and the many creatures and alien life,factions and natural anomalies to avoid.Travelling and am I facing them watching the stars or sky in space.Where are my parents attractive women.They are in another dimension too.How am I going to bring all of my things they can adjust to and take to as in culture and foods.They would need all the things in Zarconian.How can they send a message back to earth class.I used to watch Star Trek and Science fiction.They would catch on to these things being similiar to Europeans but improved.Finding the right solar system and my home planet and the poles island continent and then finding my parents.Guessing right now but my belongings in storage brought to my parents both moms.Sending radio signals deep space and bounce around in network or angles, or having UFO aliens tell them and the Evolution Process Caretakers of Space Angels.They are throughout the galaxies with their own that know the answers and travel to future to see.Importance of Zarconian and finding the earth class first and then decisions to extract the signals from satellites.My soul to transform and my insignia as Guardian Autobot Queen.My new first and lastnames from these galaxies named from Feroz.They are using tools and devices to get Queen Armada ready.And they went to the monuments and retrieved Feroxia.They retrieved all of them and did work on them to work out properly in nature.Souls no longer have defenses raised up.They are inside my body for protection and to use their superhero powers correctly in our family.They as a spirit can exercise glide like a soul.I am being made in tests to be a tranny mother.Til they are born with Transformer Gobot biology.Born solid but as young adults size of kids. Queen.I want to raise my money with work on amusement parks and ideas.I will be living off the government's money as my own.Our family is involved in many worlds from space from government corporation.Our people's credit or dollar is very sturdy and powerful for island poles continent.It has space and many light years away.Expand from earth class Sol System.Our family kept money in bank to raise higher and higher per month like interest.We're making money from interest.Til I greatly increase our money.My job will be to buy the military machinery and have blue prints drawn.I spend and make deals for them with lots of help.Also many other types of machines and I have a say in stock market on what companies and franchises are saved and brought back to new ones from earth class Sol System.I have a say on franchises and media tv.I input on tv programs and radio or media.I speak in relm of the public.Trace me biologically to get my things from storage.Then for me to grow to my character as superhero but I will wait for my daughters to be born and for me to use this wikia to match them.For me and my belief to not get lost and drowned out as a strike against us or a small disaster.My parents and island poles continent will change my mood and the way I am.I won't be so distressed and will relax more.Forgetting being poor from ON North America earth class Sol System will make my life better.The things or foods and goods from this planet and galaxy can come with me for all of my new people to assimulate and enjoy.Modernize them and make stores and franchises with the new ideas.I will be relaxing at home and have two competant mothers that specialize in socializing.They will get my body into gear and I will be smart in math.Too many failures with having old fashion couple and father and mother.It was wrecking my magic power and natural abilities and evolution.I was becoming ackward and clumsy.My neurons were slowed with my metabolic rate.Was very damaging to have lost my body because Allah uses them all the time.It went into trajedy.Now to recover from this deal with the European Pretender Gobot Combiner people.And born as master race.Now I will be self sufficient like attractive women to work outside world of the public and play a giant role to open my Queen ruler to world here.And I would have not forgotten things because of my android mind.AI mind and functions get me to cook from ON North America earth class.Being calm person full of vibrant life and peaceful.Show my qualities and to live high class with manners.Not to overdo the manners.My parents attractive women will teach about manners and many teachings of life to me.They will know its me when I am born first part of being a youngling.I will have money to spend but won't be so closed up.Modernize society with shemales and female attractive women as couples taught and reinforced by Blue Klingon Caretaker Angels and government with Islam modernized and white.I will have the important changes to leave the shelf.I was on the shelf as my life and needed to have these traits to not interfere with me having confidence and nerves.And charisma.My parents will take to me and my shoulder angels for a superhero.Parents will be working for Creator and teach us in Pretender European Gobot our creators and stories.Attractive women here have tribal teachings and learn respect and to be simple.I will have complications and to handle situations different.I will make it to a family that needs someone like Feroz Khan.I will be able to do clerical jobs.To do administrative jobs.To change their family to add some of my stern with scientific and authoratative.Bring in intelligence and have these properties work in afterlife nextlife.I will dress up in costume for society.A wardrobe I did not have or hava any purpose.Led away from negativity and to a more brighter and positivie situation from tropical island poles continent.I will have confidence and can naturally grow then having men disorders.They were wrecking me and did not go together.I will lead our government and have my throne.I don't smoke or do drugs.I am a light drinker.Here I will get toasted.But I will be wealthy and Queen.I usually stay to myself.But I have my home to be quiet.Live quietly.

The major giant lakes system has a brackish waters lake.This lake is dammed.It has damming and much of the larger marine life is dammed outside.They began construction of system of barriers to not allow our megaladon and its food giant fish into the lakes.This predator is a sea and oceans predator and same with its food.Brackish water and mix from seas to freshwater.Giant megaladons were a danger to the European Pretender space race.Having megaladons this close to people could be stopped with damming and for their food source to live in seas and oceans not the lakes.Just as nature discouraged the megaladon.Its been closed off for thousands of years.They did not want to do war on megaladon.Thought of pumping more freshwater in the lakes so they thousands of years ago will migrate out of the lakes and nature does this too.This creature and its food cycle lives in oceans.It won't make travel dangerous over the lakes.And take our people out of the megaladon food cycle.Dams eliminate parts of the food  cycle in the lakes.Memory and my Zarconian wiki Sacrid Religion of Zarconia for my lifestyle and to grow up with my attractive women parents.Remember to build my historic estate and my pets,bobcat,European wildcat as Transformer Gobots transition and my pet sharks which are 5ft long and one is a bottom dweller other eats fish and cruises like a salmon shark.1st step is my memory going billions of light years from ON Canada Sol System and in another dimension and the caretaker Angels of space that run space and elements and evolution and their vessel and that day I leave ON Canada earth class Sol System to the afterlife in my galaxy and poles island continent.My memory is important for me to collected and archived my life in ON Canada earth class Sol System.Important things from food to figuring out history.Remembering Zarconian.To build upon the sciences and history I learned in ON Canada Earth class Sol System.Build up that than reduced to stage 1.I was not far as I put it in Zarconian wiki and Zarco Macross Wikidot.Remember to do my projects but upgrade and bring it to a higher level without being forgotten.Military sciences to build up each subject.It would be a disaster if I don't remember my favourite foods and music albums.Or simple things about WW1 and WW2 and sciences.I would be working twice as more work or more.Setback.My guitar playing,synthesizer and many more of my skills.My soul or jinn would remember everything and heroically have all simple tasks solved.Use my GAH powers to remember or the way I was born in future afterlife next life.Loads of things that I did not attempt here because of the hazard and just like exploring North America.I can do it with my powers.Fed something in their place is not the original.Insect Zoo needs cameras and magnifying lenses in series for the people to see the insects.In 3d monitor system for them to watch the insects in their natural surroundings exhibit.People walk up or above at angle for children and grown ups will have cameras or 3d projection to see the insects.

http://zarco-macross.wikidot.com/wiki:antarctica

https://www.google.ca/search?q=futuristic+cities&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjp5NuIrpXSAhUn5YMKHaWbD3oQ_AUICCgB&biw=1280&bih=913

https://www.google.ca/search?q=futuristic+cities&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9p5e4wvbPAhXq6oMKHQc8A5MQ_AUICCgB&biw=1280&bih=913

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretenders_(Transformers)

[//zarconian.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Sacrid_Religion_of_Zarconia http://zarconian.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Sacrid_Religion_of_Zarconia]

[//discoverychannel.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada/Secret_Animals_of_Antarctic http://discoverychannel.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Queen_Armada/Secret_Animals_of_Antarctic] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Swabia