Antarctica — Flashcards

Answer

Antarctica is the world’s southernmost continent and contains the geographic South Pole. It is the fifth largest continent by area and is covered almost entirely by ice.

Answer

Antarctica is called a polar desert because it is extremely cold and gets very little precipitation. Even though it is covered with ice, it receives only about 200 mm of annual precipitation along the…

Answer

Marinus of Tyre coined the term Antarctica in the 2nd Century AD. The term means opposite of the Arctic Circle.

Answer

James Cook crossed latitude 67°15' along the Antarctic Circle in 1773. He discovered nearby islands, but he did not sight Antarctica itself.

Answer

The Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev is claimed to be the first to have sighted Antarctica in 1820.

Answer

Roald Amundsen was the Norwegian explorer who reached the South Pole with his team on 14 December 1911. This was a major achievement in the race to the South Pole.

Answer

Robert Falcon Scott led a polar party that reached within 857 km of the South Pole after Amundsen. Scott’s party died on the return journey after being delayed by accidents and bad weather.

Answer

The Antarctic Treaty is an international agreement that governs Antarctica. It was first signed by seven countries on 1 December 1959, entered into force in 1961, and bans military activity and minera…