Antarctica's Climate and People
Largely Antarctica is untouched by humanity, it’s wild, empty, uncultivated, uncivilized. Antarctica is a scientist’s dream. Each year, the United States sends only about 600 researchers to Antarctica. Almost 2,000 additional people support life and work there—from cooks and drivers to engineers, project managers, and maintenance and construction workers. The scientists (known as "beakers") and support staff ("grunts") form a quirky microculture that is itself worthy of study. Scientists can study exotic microbes that live in extreme cold, watch a sky unsullied by light pollution, capture evidence of the creation of rare subatomic particles, or examine layers of pristine ice tens of thousands of years old.
Antarctica's harsh environment and its remoteness has meant that land exploration by humans is quite recent, most of it being accomplished in the last 100 years. During the International Geophysical Year (IGY), 12 countries set up stations for scientific research on the continent, including the seven that previously asserted sovereignty over parts of Antarctica. The IGY was an outstanding success and led to huge advances in the scientific understanding of Antarctica. Its success led the 12 participating nations to agree that peaceful scientific cooperation in the Antarctic should continue indefinitely.
The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on the whole of Earth. Antarctica has the lowest naturally occurring temperature ever recorded on the ground on Earth: −128.6 °F at Vostok Station. It is also extremely dry (technically a desert), averaging 6.5 inches of precipitation per year. Even so, on most parts of the continent the snow rarely melts and is eventually compressed to become the glacial ice that makes up the ice sheet.
Surface temperature of Antarctica in winter and summer. Nearly all of Antarctica is covered by an ice sheet that is, on average, at least a mile thick. Antarctica contains 90% of the world's ice and more than 70% of its fresh water. If all the land-ice covering Antarctica were to melt — around
30 million cubic kilometres of ice — the seas would rise by over 60 metres. This is, however, very unlikely within the next few centuries. The Antarctic is so cold that even with increases of a few degrees, temperatures would generally remain below the melting point of ice.
30 million cubic kilometres of ice — the seas would rise by over 60 metres. This is, however, very unlikely within the next few centuries. The Antarctic is so cold that even with increases of a few degrees, temperatures would generally remain below the melting point of ice.