Larger than both and Europe, Antarctica contains 10% of the land mass in the world. With temperatures of -89 Celsius and sustained winds of over 190 miles per hour, Antactica, the landscape has a vast but forbidding beauty. The Southern Ocean encircles this massive land mass.

The waters off Antarctica are nutrient rich and provide sustenance for innumerable penguins, whales, seals, dolphins, fish and various species of flying birds. Schools of micro forage, more commonly known as krill, grow in vast quantities beneath the massive ice shelves of the Antarctic. Krill, also used for human purposes in Japan, is the primary diet for seals, whales, and penguins.

The geographical landscape of Antarctica is the coldest, windiest continent on earth, meaning that the animals that live here must adapt to these extreme conditions. It has a yearly precipitation of merely 200mm around the coastline (and much less inland), and has the greatest average altitude of any continent. Weather-acclimated animals and plants such as penguins and seals, and several types of algae and tundra vegetation, thrive on Antarctica.

However, Antarctica has a very special and unique natural feature that makes it important to each and every one of us. The atmosphere is comprised of a variety of molecules, and the heavier ones have a tendency to settle near the poles of our planet, making the greenhouse effect more pronounced in these areas. The sun produces radiant energy which is absorbed by the earth’s surface, the earth has begun absorbing more heat at the poles and as a result both the Arctic and Antarctica are becoming warmer.

Atmospheric make-up is comprised of about 79 percent nitrogen, with only 21 percent oxygen. Carbon dioxide and methane are found in smaller quantities. As these water vapors and other gases soak up the planet’s radiation, they are heated. This is what makes up the greenhouse effect.

With what is commonly referred to as the “slingshot effect” at the equator, the polar areas amass greater methane and carbon dioxide far quicker than warmer climates. For this reason of increased temps 4 – 5 times greater, it is clear that Antarctica plays a crucial role in the study of the greenhouse effect.

The ice covering Antarctica is nearly three miles thick. Millions of years of snowfall has caused this ice compaction. Drilling in order to research core samples of prehistoric air bubbles and atomic isotopes is revealing vast amounts of information on prehistoric eras.

The well-known ozone layer breach is said to be the result of harmful CFC’s … an atmospheric imbalance caused by these toxic pollutants. This reaction is quite destructive. Because of the warming effect, huge ice shelves have broken off, an action called calving.

Those ice bergs then float north and slowly melt. This melting increases the volume of water, thus increasing sea levels. As the icecap shrinks, so do the spawning grounds of the krill, which ultimately effects the food supply of the other Antarctic animals.

If all of the ice in Antarctica were to thaw, this would bring up sea level about sixty yards. That is the equivalent of skyscrapers in New York being surrounded by water at the 20th floor as it is in Venice. Other, low lying countries like Bangladesh and islands in the South Pacific may end up completely under water.

Many of those who have seen Antarctica would surely say it is a land of elegant and exhilarating physical splendor. Wildlife, which has had very little interaction with humans, are calm and often curious about their presence. Viewing the grandeur of the scenery in conjunction with the trusting innocence of Antarctica’s creatures, is an exhilarating experience.

It is the hope of many that this world will remain intact, its beauty forever preserved for future generations. Unfortunately, its steady demise has been in progress for far too long. Fortunately, many nations have joined forces and are now working together so some small steps toward conservation, preservation and preserving sustainability have already been taken.

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