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Antarctica is the coldest, highest, windiest, driest, and most remote continent on Earth

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PREPARING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD No, not just y

PREPARING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

No, not just yet. But with the increasing heat and moisture in the atmosphere and the increasing extreme weather events from bushfires to floods, to heatwaves and hurricanes it might be time to consider preparedness for your future and that of your family.

Now I’m not a Pepper, but lately I’ve been reconsidering. Partly because I now live in Japan and it has a history of earthquakes, floods and Tsunamis. The number one concern for preppers in Australia is heatstroke, not zombies, nuclear war, a New World Order or the government taking your guns. That makes sense given the recent record breaking heatwaves around the world.

Given government inaction, Antarctica’s ice loss (which affects weather) and the power and misinformation of the fossil fuel industry the climate is unlikely to get better. . So it seems to me prudent to consider protecting yourself and your families by taking some steps to come through natural (or not so natural) disasters.

Now I may seem doom and gloom but I’m not. Taking this sort of action is one way to combat the apathy that comes from listening to too many doom and gloom scenarios, so the best thing you could do for your kids is give them wilderness skills, survival and first aid training, as well as teaching them what they’ll need to ride through disasters.

After all, they and their grandchildren will be the ones to bear the brunt of the actions of a group of greedy, shortsighted corporations. The Mormons advise their brethren to have a 12 month supply of food but even a week or two’s supply will see you through many scenarios, and don’t forget water, first aid supplies, alternative energy sources, and lighting/cooking equipment. Even a power outage of a few days can make life difficult but if you’re prepared it will give you a sense of confidence.

Of course, if it all goes to hell the people in the bases in Antarctica could probably live for one or two years on the supplies they have on hand. Be like the Antarcticans.

#preppers #antarctica #survivalism #mutualaid #survival #climatechange2024

Photo. Greenhouse at a Chinese base in Antarctica

TRAGIC END TO AN ANTARCTIC EXPLORER In the very e

TRAGIC END TO AN ANTARCTIC EXPLORER

In the very early days of Antarctic exploration, when very little was known about the continent, the French explorer, Jules Dumont D’Urville, led the first major French expedition to the white continent.

He visited Hobart, Australia, a number of times on his trips south but in fact, had little interest in polar exploration. He was commanded by the French King to seek out the South Magnetic Pole and the furthest point South.

Heading south in two ships, Astrolabe and Zelee, he was confronted with pack ice and desperately attempted to reach his goals, but scurvy amongst the crew and the risk of being trapped in the ice, forced him to return to Hobart.

He made a second attempt, utilising one ship, the Astrolabe, and named some of the Antarctic islands and reached the coast of Terre Adélie (Adélie Land), which he named after his wife. A number of officers and crew struggled ashore, to plant a flag claiming the land in the name of France. Having done so they headed to Hobart which they reached 17 days later.

His voyages were beset by hardship, sickness, rough seas and the death of crew members but he managed to chart unknown sections of the Antarctic coast. He also explored much of the Pacific and their voyage lasted 38 months. On his return to France he was promoted to rear-Admiral and received the Gold Medallion of the French Geographical Society.

Unfortunately, and tragically, he and his family boarded a train from Versailles to Paris in 1842 and in those days passengers were locked in the carriages as was the custom in Europe. The train derailed and caught fire. Trapped, he and his family perished in the flames.

Dumont’ D’Urville station in Antarctica is named after him and a little known fact is that the statue, Venus De Milo, which stands in the Louvre in Paris, is there due to the actions of Dumont D’Urville while serving on a French ship in Greece as a young ensign.

#dumontdurville #antarctica #astrolabe #dumontdurvillestation #adelieland #hobart

BUZZ ALDRIN’S WARNING FROM ANTARCTICA Dr Buzz A

BUZZ ALDRIN’S WARNING FROM ANTARCTICA

Dr Buzz Aldrin was the second human to walk on the moon after Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Very few people have ever walked on the moon (only 12 so far). Besides his moonwalk, Buzz space-walked in orbit during the Gemini 12 mission, traveled down to see the Titanic and went to the North Pole.

In 2016 he visited Amundsen-Scott Base at the South Pole to cap off his personal exploration achievements, but his primary interest in coming to Antarctica was to experience and study conditions akin to Mars.

Back in December 2016, a now defunct conspiracy website, SuperStation95, claimed a tweet by Buzz stated ‘we have seen the faces of evil and we’re all in danger’ along with a photo of a pyramid shaped mountain.

The tweet was a fake but that didn’t stop people from running with it. In a more recent Facebook video post, revisiting the original conspiracy theory, a panellist said:
‘He went down to Antarctica, had a heart attack…and came back’. When he asked what happened, he said the astronaut reportedly answered: “We found out things we shouldn’t” “If Buzz saw something…if there are beings down there, I would think these beings never planned on us … they’ve been under ice for millions of years. I don’t think they were expecting us,” the panellist said.

So, for a start Dr Aldrin was visiting Amundsen-Scott Base on the Antarctic plateau, at a height of 2,835 meters (9,301 feet) and a common issue for visitors is altitude sickness. This is what happened to Buzz. He didn’t have a heart attack. The medical emergency that had him evacuated to New Zealand was altitude sickness with some congestion in his lungs, brought about by low oxygen levels.

He was the oldest person to ever visit the base at 86 so it’s no wonder he suffered from altitude sickness.. He also never said any of the things that I’ve mentioned about the ‘evil’ in Antarctica.

In 2000, a conspiracy theorist called Bart Sibrel, while harassing Buzz called him a coward and liar about landing on the moon. Buzz punched him in the face. There’s a lesson in that.

#antarctica #buzzaldrin #conspiracy #southpole #amundsenscottbase

IF YOU CAN’T CIRCUMNAVIGATE ANTARCTICA, WHAT ARE

IF YOU CAN’T CIRCUMNAVIGATE ANTARCTICA, WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING?

A few months back I posted about the belief (usually from Flat Earthers and fellow conspiracy theorists) that you can’t circumnavigate Antarctica. Their reasoning is that it’s an ice wall around the planet or is off limits. Neither of which are true.

A number of people have circumnavigated Antarctica, though it is hazardous due to the weather and conditions. Captain Cook was the first in 1773, though he never actually saw the continent. He was followed in 1820 by Russian Captain Fabian Von Bellinghausen and then Captain John Briscoe in 1840.

In May 2008, Fyodor Konyukhov completed a solo circumnavigation of Antarctica in the 85ft Alye Parusa sailboat. In 2016, Lisa Blair became the first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica solo and went into the history books. The course is only 14,000 nautical miles (25,928km) around, and not the 69,000 nm (127,788km) you would expect if the Earth was flat and Antarctica encircled it (to keep the water in).

In March 2018, Oyster 72 Katharsis II became the first yacht to sail around Antarctica below 62°S. Skipper Mariusz Koper recognised by Guinness World Records as ‘The first circumnavigation of Antarctica in a sailboat south of the 60th parallel.’

On August 3, 2019, an unmanned Saildrone 1020 completed a 13,670-mile (25,317km) journey around Antarctica. It was the world’s first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica.

Starting on November 22, 2024, researchers from seven countries, led by Brazil, and including Russia, China, India, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, set off on a Russian icebreaker (Akademik Tryoshnikov) to circumnavigate Antarctica, collecting ice, water, and air samples as they go to understand the impact of climate change. They are expected back on January 12 after completing the 14,000 km journey.

Unless of course the deep state, Nazi- loving, lizard people in their saucers stop them. Unlikely.

Photo: Russian icebreaker - Akademik Tryoshnikov

#conspiracy #conspiracytheory #conspiracytheories #antarctica #flatearth #climatechange

WHY ARE RETREATING GLACIERS AN ISSUE? As you are

WHY ARE RETREATING GLACIERS AN ISSUE?

As you are probably aware, glaciers in Greenland and the Antarctic are retreating due to climate change. Each day, on the West Antarctic ice sheet, warming ocean water laps away at its base, slowly eroding the glaciers that line its rim.

One of those, the Thwaites Glacier, often dubbed the “Doomsday Glacier,” already accounts for 4 percent of the planet’s sea level rise and loses 50 billion tons of ice annually. The erosion of glaciers is leading to increased sea level rise but there is more to glaciers than sea level rise, as important as that is.

The key element is Silicon. Silicon is a significant element that is essential for several physiological and metabolic processes in plants. Only traces are required by most animals, including humans, but some sea sponges and microorganisms, such as diatoms and radiolaria, secrete skeletal structures made of silica.

Those diatoms, which are single celled algae, are responsible for capturing a huge amount of carbon from the atmosphere and transferring it to the ocean. The CO2 they absorb from the atmosphere gets locked up in their bodies and when they die they sink into the deep sediments on the sea-floor and help minimise the carbon in the atmosphere (the main cause of climate change).

Diatoms fix up to 20 percent of the Earth's CO2 and convert it into nutrients that feed much of the life in the ocean.

More than 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of silicate minerals, making silicon the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust (about 28% by mass), after oxygen.

This is where glaciers come in. As glaciers move over the earth beneath them they grind rock into a very fine powder (called glacial flour) containing silicon, which is then transported to the ocean, providing nutrients for algae and silicon for diatoms.

If we lose the glaciers we may lose the diatoms and that will have a negative effect on sea life and our atmosphere. The current worldwide research is aimed at understanding how the loss of the glaciers will affect these nutrient factories.

Antarctica: Always fascinating.

Photo credit: Diatoms - NOAA

FLAT EARTHERS FINALLY GOING TO ANTARCTICA The fla

FLAT EARTHERS FINALLY GOING TO ANTARCTICA

The flat earth belief system may finally be coming to an end, but don’t get your hopes up.

Pastor Will Duffy's plans to bring both flat earthers and globe earthers to Antarctica by flying them all to Antarctica on December 14th. It is being labeled The Final Experiment (https://www.the-final-experiment.com/).

As you may be aware from my past posts, flat earthers believe that Antarctica is actually an ice wall that surrounds the planet and keeps the water in.

For the past six years I’ve been asking flat earthers to explain the 24-hour sun in Antarctica in summer on a flat Earth model. They can’t. So I’m met with either silence or smiley emojis.

Although they’ve been shown time lapse video of 24 hour sunlight and anyone who has been there in summer has experienced it, including myself, the flat earthers simply say we are lying. Or in my case, I’m a freemason gatekeeper employed by the Deep State to cover up the truth. 😁

But now, here’s their chance. Pastor Duffy said "I created The Final Experiment to end this debate, once and for all. After we go to Antarctica, no one has to waste anymore time debating the shape of the Earth."

Flying with Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions to Union Glacier, Antarctica, for the next 24 hours, they will monitor and film the sun. I’ll be very interested to hear what they say when the sun stays in the sky for 24 hours.

That would normally end the debate but we’re talking about the Flat Earth religion here so I’m expecting all sorts of excuses. I’m guessing they’ll say ‘We were conned’ or ‘We never went to Antarctica. You took us to the same studio where they filmed the moon landings’ or something similar.

Even if this group of four (currently three) Flat Earthers become convinced the Earth is a globe, I’m sure the other flat earthers will say ‘They were brainwashed’ or ‘They are paid actors’ or ‘It’s a psyop by the lizard aliens in the White House to trick the public’.

What do you think their best excuse will be when they encounter 24-hour sunlight? Comment below.

#antarctica #flatearth #conspiracy #southpole #thefinalexperiment #24hoursun #flatearthmodel

ANTARCTICA DAY Earlier this week on December 1st

ANTARCTICA DAY

Earlier this week on December 1st we celebrated the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. It’s amazing that an international treaty could last 65 years. Perhaps there is hope for the future when one considers that the Antarctic Treaty was signed at the height of the Cold War to keep Antarctica as a place for peace, science and international cooperation.

Antarctica Day is a fairly recent tradition since it was only established by the Foundation for the Good Governance of International Spaces in 2010 as a way to highlight the international cooperation that is a hallmark of the Antarctic Treaty System and to encourage educators to incorporate Antarctica into their curriculums.

Though lately there have been some cracks forming due to certain States actions, the Treaty still holds, and the people stationed in Antarctica continue to contribute to our understanding of this great continent and it’s effect on the world’s weather systems and climate. It is Earth’s largest and mostly untouched wilderness area.

There were originally 12 signatories to the original treaty and today 57 with twenty nine countries holding full voting rights, controlling the decision-making process and 28 Non-Consultative Parties with observer status.

Later additions to the Treaty led to what is known as the Antarctic Treaty System. Those additions were;
The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (1991)
The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (1972)
The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
(CCAMLR, 1980)

Among other provisions, the Treaty froze territorial claims to the continent, banned nuclear weapons and waste on the continent, and preserved the entire region south of 60 degrees south latitude for peaceful purposes. The banning of activities of a military nature makes it effectively the first nuclear-arms control agreement in history.

Let’s hope it can weather the current craziness of the humans living on this planet because if Antarctica goes it may not be worth living here at all.

Happy belated Antarctica Day

ANTARCTIC JOB TIME AGAIN Yes, it’s that time of

ANTARCTIC JOB TIME AGAIN

Yes, it’s that time of the year. The Australian Antarctic Division is looking for people to work in Antarctica for the next season in 2025.

Plumbers - are needed year-round to maintain, install and operate systems across the bases. ($150,947 per year).

Refuellers - to keep the many planes, boats and machines going in Antarctica ($157,265 per year)

Antarctic chef - for cooking, catering and re-ordering of foodstuffs for the succeeding expedition. ($150,947 per year).

Antarctic Medical Practitioners - are needed for general medical needs, and emergency surgery and dental if the unexpected happens. ($220,055 to $289,769).

Head of station - responsible for the safety, physical and emotional wellbeing of the station community group, and for coordinating expeditions for people of any nationality ($210,145 per year).

Refrigeration Mechanic - It’s Antarctica, but during summer months, keeping food and scientific samples at a constant temperature is important.� Refrigeration mechanics generally work in summer jobs only, with the station location dependent on requirements.

General mechanics- are also needed for the station's equipment ( pay can range from $150,947 to $157,265 per year).
Ground Support Officers are required to keep the airstrips of Antarctica working smoothly in difficult weather. ($166,586 per year)

Antarctic Aerodrome Manager - needed to oversee the Aerodrome at Australia's Wilkins Station - if you have experience running an airport in blizzard conditions this could be the job for you. (upwards of $166,586 per year).�

Station Supply Officers - manage the crucial supply chains that supply the expeditions ($150,947 per year)

Refuelling Supervisor - manages the refuelling from ships to the Antarctic shore.
($166,586 while deployed to Antarctica).

Watercraft Operator - o�n a smaller scale, the role of watercraft operator looks after inflatable rescue boats or lighter, amphibious resupply, cargo (LARC) vessels ($157,265 per year).

You can see more jobs and all the information at https://jobs.antarctica.gov.au/jobs-in-antarctica/

Good luck

#antarcticajobs #jobsinantarctica #antarctica #antarcticadventures

THE USUAL SUSPECTS BLOCK ANTARCTIC PROTECTION Yes

THE USUAL SUSPECTS BLOCK ANTARCTIC PROTECTION

Yes, same old, same old. Krill, a small shrimp-like creature, is the basis for the Antarctic food chain. They have been under threat now for a while but the threat is increasing. If you have protected areas, krill and fish stocks can replenish, leading to long term sustainability.

A friend of mine used to handle negotiations between Chinese companies and Australian resource companies. In one meeting he stressed to the Chinese that the outcome would be a win/win. The response he got back from the Chinese negotiator was ‘We don’t care about that’.

Which pretty much sums up China’s (and Russia’s) attitude to Antarctic protection. Win/WIn will benefit krill and fishing in the long run but when your eyes are only on immediate profit it isn't going to happen.

At the recent Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) annual meeting in Hobart, Russia and China continued with their well-worn path of blocking any proposal that might conserve Antarctic marine life.

Revisions to the Krill fisheries management plan and establishment of new Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) were two of the proposals vetoed by the demonic duo.
Unfortunately, a single member can veto any proposed measure and this pair have done so continuously.

Of course there’s a vested interest in that China and Russia run huge trawlers to harvest millions of tons of krill for fish food and krill oil supplements, not to mention fish stocks as well. There is big money in it so of course they don’t want any interference in what is a lucrative enterprise.

China is dramatically expanding krill fishing in Antarctica, with three new super-trawlers that use a continuous pumping system to “vacuum” krill and Russia is investing AUD $872 million in krill fishing.

With so many animals relying on krill to live, one way to slow down this industry is to not buy krill oil or krill for fish food.

#krill #antarctica #russia #china #krilloil #CCAMLR

SHACKLETON’S CROSS ON DISPLAY Just over a centu

SHACKLETON’S CROSS ON DISPLAY

Just over a century ago Sir Ernest Shackleton died, aged 47, in Grytviken, South Georgia. He was on his fourth voyage to Antarctica on his ship, Quest. Upon his death, his crew, built a cross from salvaged timber found at whaling stations. It was known as the Hope Cross.

In 2018, after a century of standing guard over his grave, it was put into storage and replaced with a concrete monument in 2018.

The cross was recently transported 8,000 miles to the Discovery Centre in Dundee, where it has been put on display and is now open for public viewing. The Discovery centre focuses on Captain Robert Scott’s first ship ‘Discovery’ which reached Antarctica one hundred and 121 years ago. It has been preserved and maintained at Dundee as a testimony to human exploration and heroism.

Shackleton was involved in four expeditions to Antarctica, three of which he led. He had been with Scott on the Discovery expedition and had made a failed attempt to reach the South Pole along with Scott.

His Nimrod expedition was the first to climb Mt Erebus, first to reach the area of the South Magnetic Pole and the furthest South that any human had ever reached.

Shackleton was only 97 nautical miles from the Pole before he had to turn back to save himself and his men from starvation. His Endurance expedition ended with his ship Endurance, trapped and crushed by ice, leading to an epic tale of human survival against all odds.

The Quest expedition, his fourth and final voyage to Antarctica, only reached Grytviken where he suffered a fatal heart attack on January 5, 1922. He is buried in the graveyard there.

At the dedication ceremony for the cross, his grand daughter, Alexandra Shackleton, was to say:

‘It is the decisions we make that show the sort of person we are. He was loved by the sailors. His legacy is leadership. That's why we are here today. I hope people will learn from it’

Hopefully, the cross will remain on permanent display at Dundee as a legacy to a great man.

Photo:The cross on Hope Point overlooking King Edward Cove. Credit:State Library of New South Wales

#shackleton #grytviken #hopecross #discoveryexpedition #southpole

A GIANT 'DOOR' FOUND IN ANTARCTICA Yet again, we

A GIANT 'DOOR' FOUND IN ANTARCTICA

Yet again, we find another ‘unexplained’ mystery in Antarctica. You are probably aware that there are people with time on their hands who scour Google earth for anomalies. I guess they make my life more interesting with their pyramids and giants and UFO’s beneath the ice.

This latest is a giant ‘door’ that was posted on Reddit earlier this year and is getting some mileage in the media again. The co-ordinates are 69°00'50"S 39°36'22"E so you can look it up on Google earth for yourself. It is surprisingly close to Showa station, a Japanese base, which is only 1.4 km in a direct line from the ‘door’ though there is some rough country in between.

Comments on the post range from a ‘secret imperial Japanese bunker’ to ‘the door to Agartha’(a supposed kingdom in the hollow Earth), and the most probable ‘just a sheer ice formation’.

Showa (or Syowa) Station was established on East Ongul Island, Antarctica in 1957 (67 years ago) by the 1st Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition. The base can hold 30 personnel for a season. Assuming it has been permanently occupied since 1957 that would mean that around 2100 people have visited the base and the surrounding area.

If the Showa base personnel grabbed a snowmobile and went around the intervening rock outcrops it would only be a distance of about two kilometres. Kind of surprising that with all those people and the object being so close that they haven’t stumbled across this ‘door’.

In 1976, as the Viking 1 mission circled Mars in search of a landing site for its sister ship, Viking 2, it captured the image of a pile of rocks that NASA described as a "huge rock formation…which resembled a human head."

Later, more detailed photos showed that the suggestion of a face was an optical illusion revealed only as the light hits the surface and wells of the rocks at specific angles.

Yes, it does look like a ‘door’ but probably isn’t. I’ll be visiting the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research sometime soon and when I do I might ask them to take a look. I can’t promise they will but it would be nice to know.

#antarctica #conspiracy #pyramids #NASA #mars #syowastation

WEATHER MACHINES AND THE GREENING OF ANTARCTICA

‘Parts of Antarctica are turning green more quickly than previously thought, leaving scientists "shocked" at the impact of climate change in the region’ That was the headline from a recent article by Sky News, the Fox News equivalent in Australia.

In 1986, on the Antarctic Peninsula, a patch of vegetation covered an area of one square kilometre (0.6 sq mile). Thirty five years later that area has expanded to almost 12 square kilometres (7.5 square miles)

‘the pace of change has accelerated by more than 30% between 2016 and 2021 [showing] anthropogenic climate change... "has no limit in its reach".

So even Sky News is willing to admit that climate change is real and are allowing comments about human caused climate change. How things have changed.

In 2022, China was scorched by a searing heat wave that lasted more than 70 days, affecting more than 900 million people. That same year, more than 61,000 Europeans died from heat-related stress. In 2024, more brutal heat waves struck far and wide, the most harrowing of which killed 1,300 people during the annual hajj in Mecca, with temperatures as high as 49°C (120°F).

In Antarctica, the continent is also losing ice mass at a rate of about 150 billion tons per year, which contributes to sea level rise. I could go on but I’ll stop there.

Normally, the intellectually challenged just say…’It’s the weather’. But it gets better. For those same people who can’t admit that climate change is real and caused by humans, when faced with the massive intensification of the hurricanes hitting Florida due to climate change heating the ocean, there must be a simpler answer.

Yes, geoengineering with weather modification, using diabolical weather machines, probably owned, built and operated by ‘them’, that secret cabal of whoever we don’t like at the moment.

We are living in interesting times and it is evident now more than ever, that you can’t fix stupid.

Photo:Green Island in the Antarctic Peninsula. Credit: University of Exeter/PA

#climatechange #antarctica #geoengineering #weathermodification #weathermachines #conspiracy

SHACKLETON'S ENDURANCE DOCUMENTARY In 1914, Ernes

SHACKLETON'S ENDURANCE DOCUMENTARY

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out to trek across the Antarctic continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Ice Shelf. The Anglo-Irish polar explorer was 100 miles from the continent when his ship ‘Endurance’ was trapped in the ice. The Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition was over before it had begun but it turned into one of the epic survival stories of all time.

Shackleton would leave most of his men on Elephant Island then set out in a small boat with four companions to reach a whaling station on South Georgia, 1300 km (800 miles) away. He made it, after treacherous seas and crossing the glaciers of the island, and went on to rescue his men.

A new documentary by National Geographic alternates between the explorer's legendary Antarctic expedition and the 2022 mission by Mensun Bound on the South African ship, Agulhas II to find the wreck of his ship.

National Geographic’s ‘Endurance’ showcases Frank Hurley’s stunning footage taken in 1914-15, preserved and restored by the British Film Institute and colour-treated for the first time. The story of the great escape from the ice is drawn directly from the writings and recordings of the crew, then, through the use of AI their voices are brought back to life.

Hurley’s footage included the Endurance crew play-fighting with the sled dogs, kicking a football around the ice, the end of Endurance as its masts collapsed as the ice crushed it and its inevitable sinking. The footage was almost lost to us but Hurley disrobed and dove into the icy waters to retrieve his film as the ship sank.

The location of Endurance was roughly known from Shackleton’s calculations but the Weddell sea is a hostile and dangerous place to go looking for a lost ship. Mensum Bound who had beel researching and planning to find the ship for a decade, found Endurance on his second attempt, perfectly preserved, almost three kilometres (ten thousand feet) at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.

The documentary is soon to stream on Disney+. It should be worth watching.

#antarcticpeninsula #antarctica #southgeorgia #shackleton #elephantisland #jamescaird #enduranceexpedition #rescue #Endurance

ARE RUSSIA AND CHINA PLANNING ON DRILLING ANTARCTI

ARE RUSSIA AND CHINA PLANNING ON DRILLING ANTARCTICA?

Recently, Russia and China were at it again, in talks over joint drilling of the Gamburtsev subglacial mountains in the middle of Antarctica. For scientific purposes of course. The Gamburtsev mountains are 3000 m (9,000ft) high and stretch for 800 km (500 miles) and they are only covered by 600 metres of ice. This makes them attractive for drilling, compared to most of Antarctica, where the ice sheet is 2km or more thick.

Of course, drilling holes under the guise of gathering scientific data, comes with two advantages: 1)the improvement of drilling techniques in extreme cold weather environments as new technologies are trialled and 2)the determination of what mineral and oil resources lie beneath the surface.

In November 2014, President Xi said, 'The Chinese stand ready…to know, protect and explore Antarctica' but the Chinese media deliberately mistranslated. He actually said ‘to better understand, protect and exploit’ the Antarctic.

Russia has been sending geological parties to Antarctica to do surveys for quite a while. The Russian ship, the Akademik Alexander Karpinsky has led extensive oil and gas surveys in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. It is owned by a subsidiary of Rosgeo, the Kremlin’s mineral explorer. Under the guise of geological research its surveys have revealed approximately 500 billion barrels (70 billion tons) of oil and gas potential in the Weddell Sea region.

Russian gas company, Zapsibgazprom, is doing the onsite assembly and commissioning of the new Vostok station. When you have fossil fuel companies involved like this in the Russian Antarctic Programme it’s not hard to guess what is coming.

In the short term though there probably won’t be any exploitation of mineral and oil resources in Antarctica because the blowback from the international community would be severe, but it is highly likely that pressure will start to build up before 2048 when the ban on mining comes up for consultation. It will require a unanimous vote but there is really nothing to stop these countries from ignoring the treaty and just drilling anyway.

Photo credit: NOAA

Antarctica’s unclaimed territory. #antarctica #

Antarctica’s unclaimed territory. #antarctica #admiralbyrd #volcanoes

LOST ANTARCTIC CIVILISATIONS I love a good consp

LOST ANTARCTIC CIVILISATIONS

I love a good conspiracy but sometimes they get tedious and just a little research would demonstrate how ridiculous some of them are. Pyramids in Antarctica pops up again and again for example. There’s no doubt there are pyramid shaped mountains in Antarctica. They are not uncommon around the world and are the result of freezing and thawing (freeze thaw erosion).

The latest claim is from an X (formerly Twitter) post by ‘AndTartary and antiquity’ about what looks like the outline of a city in the snows of Antarctica. They also provided a photograph.. The post states:

‘Global warming is gradually ridding Antarctica of its ice cap [true] and opening its surface to explorers and NASA satellites. On the southernmost continent it was possible to see a strange formation of apparently artificial origin…it looks more like the structure of a settlement-clear square shapes and branches of the passages, making sure that the icing of the continent was not as long ago as scientists used to think [untrue]. We are talking about thousands of years not millions. Or we have to admit that traces of human activity could have appeared millions of years ago’

We know Antarctica has been covered in ice for around 13 million years. Even if a civilisation was there before the ice formed, that ice weighs billions of tons and it is moving. That weight and movement grinds anything in its path so firstly any building would be ground to dust and secondly would have been carried to the sea and deposited in the ocean a long time ago.

So no, it’s not the remnants of a lost civilisation in Antarctica. Funnily enough this photo purporting to be from Antarctica is actually from Egypt and this was pointed out to the poster.

The comment was ‘The image shows a digitally enhanced image of the Khendjer Complex in Egypt. Egypt is not in Antarctica’

Brutal but true. It pays to question these things, as much as we might want them to be true. We live in a time of rampant misinformation and gullible people. Don’t be one of them.

#lostcivilisations #antarctica #pyramids #robertfalconscott #terranovaexpedition #Egypt

ANTARCTIC ASTRONAUTS The Fram was the first ship

ANTARCTIC ASTRONAUTS

The Fram was the first ship specially built in Norway for polar research. She was used on three important expeditions: with Fridtjof Nansen on a drift over the Arctic Ocean 1893-96, with Otto Sverdrup to the arctic archipelago west of Greenland - now the Nunavut region of Canada - 1898-1902, and with Roald Amundsen to Antarctica for his South Pole expedition 1910-12.

The Fram still survives and is housed and exhibited in the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway.

But now there is a new Fram mission called Fram2. Using a dragon spacecraft, SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk, plans to launch the first crewed mission to travel over the Earth’s poles.

Until now, all crewed orbital missions have stuck to middle latitude trajectories, mainly because it’s easier since mid-latitude launches get a boost from Earth’s rotation in terms of velocity. Polar missions don’t. Because of this, polar missions have been limited to military reconnaissance, mapping, remote surveying, and other tasks.

The last time anyone went far north or south was in 1963 when Valentina Tereshkova reached an inclination of 65° from the equator in a Soviet Vostok 6 mission. Fram2 will be the first to take humans directly over the North and South Poles.

Fram2 will be commanded by Chun Wang, an entrepreneur and adventurer from Malta. He'll be joined by Norway’s Jannicke Mikkelsen, vehicle commander; Australia’s Eric Philips, vehicle pilot; and Germany’s Rabea Rogge, mission specialist.

Fram2 will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 425 to 450 km (264 to 280 miles) for three to five days, which unfortunately won’t allow it to take a full photographic shot of Antarctica. If it did, the flat earthers would deny it anyway.

However, the mission will observe aurora phenomena as well as the effects of spaceflight on the human body by capturing the first ever human X-ray images in space.

I wish them well

Photo credit: SpaceX

#antarctica
#spaceX #Fram #Amundsen #elonmusk #dragonspacecraft #flatearth

ADD YOUR NAME TO ANTARCTICA A new project by the

ADD YOUR NAME TO ANTARCTICA

A new project by the British Antarctic Service (BAS) seeks to inspire, educate and entertain the public about Antarctica.
Do you dream of visiting Antarctica? Well, now’s your chance to follow a journey to the frozen continent – according to the naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

Ticket to Antarctica invites the public to follow an adventure to Antarctica aboard the UK’s Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough.
People can sign up at tickettoantarctica.co.uk to add their name to a time capsule that will travel thousands of miles on the research ship to the UK’s Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, operated by British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

As well as receiving a souvenir digital ‘ticket’ featuring campaign character Pebble Penguin, there will be weekly email updates from the voyage. Weekly email postcard updates: experience the voyage through the eyes of the ship’s crew, learn what to pack for a trip to Antarctica, enjoy stunning photographs of the wildlife including penguins, seals and whales, and explore the research stations where over 100 people live and work.

Journey highlights:
Sail over 8,000 kilometres from the UK to Antarctica
Meet the crew and learn what it’s like to live and work at sea
See icebergs and the resident wildlife
Visit British Antarctic Survey’s research stations in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic. You’ll get to visit Rothera, Signy, Bird Island and King Edward Point Research Stations

Explore BAS’s centre for marine biology and gateway into the ‘deep field’ at Rothera Research Station, meeting the staff and scientists working at the forefront of polar research

Ticket to Antarctica aims to bring the magic of the Antarctic to people of all ages – creating a deeper understanding and appreciation for this remote continent, and the science taking place to understand the impact of climate change.

To register for your free ticket and follow this adventure sign up now at:
http://tickettoantarctica.co.uk. or look up 'ticket to Antarctica BAS' on Google.

#antarctica #antarctic #antarcticpeninsula #britishantarcticsurvey

MAWSON TO ANTARCTICA Australia’s Douglas Mawson

MAWSON TO ANTARCTICA

Australia’s Douglas Mawson joined Ernest Shackleton’s nimrod expedition (1907-09) and was in the first parties to reach the vicinity of the South Magnetic Pole and climb Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano.

Captain Robert Scott invited him to join the Terra Nova expedition two years later but he declined preferring to lead his own expedition, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE 1911-13). It was the first Antarctic expedition by Australians and departed from Hobart, Tasmania in 1911 in the ship Aurora.

There was a vast crowd to see them off, waving and cheering, while the sailors on the rigging sang back with sea shanties. Mawson would go to Antarctica and through formal declarations and flag raising set the basis for Australia’s territorial claims to 42% of Antarctica (in suspension under the Antarctic Treaty)

They set up base at Cape Denison in what would be one of the windiest places on earth with wind speed once reaching 320km per hour though on average around km/hr. There they carried out mapping, geological and scientific programmes. Mawson also brought the first aircraft to Antarctica, a Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane, but it was damaged before arrival and only served as a ground tractor.

During this expedition he travelled by sledge with two companions, Mertz and Ninnis, both of whom died on the journey. Mawson’s survival and his return to civilisation is one of the great survival stories of all time (read more here https://bit.ly/4dBIagp). He was knighted in 1914.

Almost 20 years later Mawson returned to Hobart as leader of BANZARE (British Australia New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition 1929-31) using Scott’s old ship ‘Discovery’. On this expedition they discovered and charted new lands and collected a mass of geological and zoological samples.

Mawson outlived every other leader from the Heroic Era of Antarctic Exploration and died in 1958. His name is commemorated in place names in South Australia, Hobart and Antarctica. There’s even a minor planet 4456 Mawson named in his honour. He was one of the greats.

#shackleton #antarctica #terranovaexpedition #volcanoes #antarctic #mawson

WIN AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE South Georgia was the end

WIN AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE

South Georgia was the end point of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s amazing epic of survival after his ship ‘Endurance’ became trapped in the ice and eventually sank. Taking the lifeboats the crew hauled them across ice flows until they reached open water and then rowed them to Elephant Island.

Their adventure wasn’t over. Shackleton knew they would never be found so he set out with four other men on one of the legendary journeys that few have surpassed.
They sailed 800 miles across the coldest, wildest seas in the world and with only a clear few days managed to get some sun sightings and navigated to the island of South Georgia, a tiny spot in a boundless ocean.

There, Shackleton and two of his companions crossed the mountainous glaciers ofthe island, a feat never done before, and reached the safety and help of a whaling station on the other side. All of his men were eventually rescued.

You can follow in his footsteps with a chance to win an Antarctic cruise for two, provided by G Adventures, in support of the South Georgia Heritage Trust. You will visit the Antarctic Peninsula and retrace Shackleton’s journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia on the ‘Spirit of Shackleton’ expedition cruise. You’ll also get to drink a toast at Shackleton’s grave at Grytviken and to his right hand man, Frank Wild, who is buried next to him.

There are two ways to enter. You can donate to the cause at https://bit.ly/3ZdMoGC with a £100 (about AUD $200) donation (or search for ‘Win a cruise to south georgia’ if the link can’t be seen. The £100 donation will give you an entry in the competition or send them a letter to enter for free. For the postal entry send to:

Win a Once-in-a-Lifetime Cruise to South Georgia!.
South Georgia Heritage Trust,
Verdant Works, West Henderson's Wynd,
Dundee, Scotland, DD1 5BT

The competition closes at the end of September. I am not associated with the competition and this is for your information only. If you decide to enter I wish you luck.

Photo: The James Caird:the boat Shackleton sailed to South Georgia.

#southgeorgia #antarctica #shackleton #jamescaird #elephantisland #grytviken

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