PROTECT ANTARCTIC SEA ICE

PROTECT ANTARCTIC SEA ICE

The was signed in 1959 by twelve countries; to date, forty-six countries have signed the treaty. The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists of many nationalities and with various research interests.^[1]

Although myths and speculation about a ("Southern Land") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition..

During the led by in 1907, parties led by became the first to climb and to reach the, who assumed the leadership of the Magnetic Pole party on their perilous return, went on to lead several expeditions until retiring in 1931 addition, Shackleton himself and three other members of his expedition made several firsts in December 1908 – February 1909: they were the first humans to traverse the, the first to traverse the Transantarctic Mountain Range (via), and the first to set foot on the South Polar Plateau. An led by Norwegian polar explorer from the ship became the first to reach the geographic on 14 December 1911, using a route from the and up the One month later, the ill-fated   reached the pole.

led several voyages to the Antarctic by plane in the 1930s and 1940s. He is credited with implementing mechanized land transport on the continent and conducting extensive

Antarctica (pronounced)) is encapsulating the It is situated in the of the most entirely south of the, and is surrounded by the At 14.0 million km² (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after, and. About 98% of Antarctica is covered which averages at least 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mi) in thickness.

Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average