Antarctica includes the Antarctic continent and the surrounding islands, with a total area of 14 million square kilometers, accounting for 10% of the Earth's area. Not counting the islands around Antarctica, the Antarctic continent covers an area of 12.39 million square kilometers. Antarctica is the size of half of China, and is 12,000 kilometers from Beijing in a straight line.
The coldest month in Antarctica is July, which is the opposite of the season in China. The average monthly temperature in the coastal areas of the Antarctic continent is about -30 degrees Celsius, and in the coastal areas around the Antarctic continent, the average annual temperature is minus 17 degrees Celsius, and the winter temperature is usually about minus 40 degrees Celsius.
The former Soviet expedition in July 1983 in the center of the continent at an altitude of 3,000 meters in the East Station measured the lowest temperature of -89.3 degrees Celsius, Antarctica is the coldest place on earth. This is the lowest temperature ever recorded in the world.
Ninety-eight percent of the Antarctic continent is covered by snow and ice all year round, with an average thickness of 2,450 meters and a maximum thickness of 4,750 meters. Antarctica's total freshwater reserves are 72% of the Earth's, if the Antarctic ice cap all melted, the entire Earth's sea level will rise an average of 60 meters, many cities along the coast will be submerged. Such as Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao and so on.
China has established two scientific research stations in Antarctica
The Great Wall Station: It is named after the Great Wall of China. Built on February 20, 1985, it is located on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands. Geographic coordinates are: 62 degrees, 12 minutes and 59 seconds, 58 degrees, 57 minutes and 53 seconds west longitude, 17,501.9 kilometers from Beijing. The Great Wall Station has a building area of more than 2,000 square meters, including the main building, dormitory building, power generation building, scientific research building, cultural, sports and medical building, meteorological building, oil depot, sewage treatment station, warehouse, helipad.
The station can accommodate about 50 people in summer and 20 in winter.
Scientific research at the station focuses on marine biology, geology, high-altitude physics, geomagnetism, meteorology, and GPS linkage.
The recreational activities of the station include table tennis, billiards, karaoke and some sports facilities.
The Great Wall Station is located on King George Island, where nine countries have established bases.
Zhongshan Station: built on February 26, 1989, named after Sun Yat-sen. It is located in the Lazman Hills area of the East Antarctic continent. Geographic coordinates: 69 degrees 22 minutes 24 seconds south latitude, 76 degrees 22 minutes 40 seconds east longitude, 12553.1 kilometers from Beijing.
It was built in 1989, the existing buildings on the station are office building, dormitory building, meteorological building, scientific research building, cultural and sports building and power generation building, garage, tanks, etc., with a total area of 2,700 m, scientific research room has a high-level physical observation room, GPS observation room, geomagnetic room, solid tide observation room, astronomical ozone observation room. The regular observation programs throughout the year include ionosphere, upper atmospheric physics, geomagnetism, solid tide, ozone and GPS joint measurement. Biological, geological, glacial and medical observations are also conducted in summer. There are 50 to 60 researchers in summer and 20 to 25 in winter. In view of the obsolescence of the original building, in the summer of 2001, a 2-story 960-meter building was constructed, which greatly improved the living, working and accommodation conditions of Zhongshan Station.
Zhongshan Station is the base for inland research. In order to carry out inland research, the station is equipped with three large 240 snowmobiles, one 170 snowmobile, and one small 150 snowmobile for the station's use.
The climate at Zhongshan Station is much harsher than that at the Great Wall Station. Because of its proximity to the icecap, it is subject to the influence of falling winds, with maximum wind speeds of 50, polar daytime of 54 days, polar nighttime of 58 days (with slight variations depending on the year), and minimum temperatures of .
So far, 27 countries have built stations in Antarctica, *** there are more than 150 scientific research stations.
Three Antarctic creatures
(A) Penguins
For penguins, I think students may be associated with the Antarctic world of ice and snow. Penguins belong to the birds, is the only can not fly diving seabirds. There are eight species of penguins living in the waters around Antarctica. Penguins can swim at speeds of up to 20-30 kilometers and jump more than two meters above the surface.
The penguin has a characteristic black back and white belly. The penguins we commonly see in Antarctica are: Emperor Penguins, Adélie Penguins, Hooded Penguins, Kintu Penguins,
1, Emperor Penguins (Emperor Penguins). Emperor penguin is the largest of the penguins, it is the most adaptable to the cold birds, body height of 120 cm (1.2 meters), weight 25 ~ 30 kg, (in the Great Wall Station can not be seen, but Zhongshan Station can be seen), in the winter breeding. The emperor penguin lays one egg per year, one at a time, and does not make a nest. It breeds on the ice and usually lays its eggs in May. The male penguin goes on a hunger strike for about 3-4 months. The male penguin puts the eggs on his feet, between the foot and the foot is called the egg sac, the egg is carried into the place where there is no feather red multi-vessel skin, no sound and concentrate on heat preservation, even if the temperature drops to -50 ℃, the wind speed up to 30m/s ground blowing snow attacked many times, the eggs keep 32 ℃ ~ 38 ℃.
The male penguins use only the thick fat under their skin to sustain their lives during the 3 to 4 months from egg laying to egg holding. They lose about 30-35% of their body weight. In mid-August the eggs hatch and the females return. The chicks live on their parents' feet for six months until they are fully fledged. During this time the parents continue to provide food and bait. In the summer the chicks travel alone to the northern sea, where they live until March.
2, Adelie penguins, the most widely distributed, living in the Antarctic continent, its height and weight than the emperor penguin is much smaller, about 50 centimeters high, weighing only 6 kilograms, penguins lay two eggs each time, it is the breeding season in late October each year, Adelie penguins in the Antarctic continent around the island of the outcrops of the rock group nesting, to raise their children. The group nests are called penguin nests.
Penguin nests are built on rocky outcrops where small stones are concentrated and competition between penguins for small stones is intense. The penguin nests are narrowly spaced, less than 1m apart, and are not infrequently stolen from neighboring nests, and it is not uncommon for clumsy couples to go looking for rocks and have all the rocks they have gathered stolen. If you leave the nest for more than 10 minutes, dozens of stones may be lost, giving you a glimpse of nature's fierce competition for survival.
The small stone nests are used to stabilize the eggs and prevent them from being washed away by the snow and melting water. Eggs are laid in mid-November. Two eggs are born in 1-2 days, the male begins to hold them and the female takes the sea about 100km to the north as her destination and eats enough to get enough to eat in the northern sea, where the female will be replaced by the male after two weeks. The male penguin changes the direction of the eggs and holds them without a sound. The penguins go on a hunger strike for 40-50 days because they have no bait to eat.
Penguins incubate their eggs for about 2 months. When the female penguin lays her eggs, she completes her task and goes away in search of food, leaving the task of incubating the eggs to the male penguin, who remains motionless, endures the hunger, braves the cold and concentrates on incubating the eggs. When the chicks hatch, the male penguins become thin and exhausted, and the female penguins instinctively return to take turns raising the chicks with the male penguins. The mother and father go to the sea to find food for each other, and when they return, they spit out undigested krill to feed their chicks. The chicks are gray-feathered and shed their black backs and white bellies like their parents from late January to February. From late February through March the penguins return to the northern ice edge.
Hooded penguins have a black line on their jaws. Mostly found in the Scotia Sea, centered on the Antarctic Peninsula, they are marine penguins.
Gentoo penguins have a triangular spot between their eyes and breed on the Southern Great Module Island, centered on the Antarctic Peninsula.
(2) Antarctic Seals
There are five species of seals that live in the Antarctic region: the leopard seal, the crab-eating seal, the Weddell seal, the Ross seal, and the elephant seal. About 60% of the world's seal population is found in the Antarctic Sea, due to the high number of krill-eating crab seals. Crab seals have serrated teeth like saws and filter krill through their teeth like whales filter krill through their baleen. Elephant seals, Ross seals and Weddell seals dive to depths of 100-1500 meters to feed on fish and cuttlefish.
Seals are feeding animals. The largest seals are elephant seals, with males ranging from 4-6 meters in length and weighing 2-3.6 tons, and females smaller than males, weighing about half as much.
Leopard seals are 3.5-4 meters long and weigh up to 450 kilograms. They have a large beak and are fierce, attacking penguins and seabirds, and catching fish for food.
The Ross seal, which can only be seen in the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea, is generally about 2 meters long and weighs about 180-200 kilograms. It is a small seal. The total number of Ross seals is 20,000, which is the smallest of all Antarctic seals. Males are 3 meters long and females are 2.5 meters long.
The crab-eating seal is widely distributed from the continent to the ice floes and, unlike its namesake, feeds on krill. It is 2.6 meters long, weighs 250 kilograms and has an estimated population of 2-5 million.
In the Antarctic, in addition to seals, sea dogs of the sea donkey family are also abundant, the male body length of 2 meters, weighing about 150 kg, the female body length of 1.5 meters, weighing 50 kg. It mainly eats krill.
The Weddell seal is 3 meters long and the largest can weigh up to 400 kilograms.
The Weddell seal is 3 meters long, weighs 450 kilograms, males are larger than females, and has a uniform blackish teal dorsal body, with white and black striped spots on the teal from the sides to the belly. It is a fish-eater, but also eats cuttlefish and krill. It is a strong diver and can dive below 180 meters and stay in the water for up to 70 minutes.
(C) Antarctic krill in the Antarctic Sea living in seven species of krill, the largest and biomass accounted for the absolute majority of the Antarctic krill. Because of the large number of schools of krill, seals, penguins, fish, cuttlefish, etc. in the Antarctic Sea life of the main food bait. Therefore, Antarctic krill is an important organism in the ecosystem of the Antarctic Sea.
Krill, Antarctic krill individuals are not large, body length is generally 6-8 cm, body length 5-6 cm, weight 6 grams. It is estimated that the total amount of krill in the Antarctic Sea about 1 billion tons of biomass. Antarctic krill contains about 50% protein, about 10 krill protein equivalent to 200 grams of grilled meat nutritional value, the human body needs 8 kinds of amino acids, krill have. If the annual catch of 70 million tons of krill, will be able to provide protein for 1/3 of the world's population. In the future, krill will not only be used as protein for human beings, but also as an indicator for monitoring changes in the Earth's environment.
(D) Antarctic seabirds
Antarctic gulls, giant petrels, snow swallows, etc.
(E) Aurora
In the dark of the night, the North and South Poles at high latitudes, suddenly appeared in the red, green, yellow or purple bands of light, the beauty of its colorful and diverse shapes, there are ribbons, arcs, flames, and its movement of the time faster and slower, constituting a symphony of light.
Why the aurora will appear in the north and south poles over the poles, because the two ends of the earth is the earth's magnetic field of the two magnetic poles, when the sun radiates a large number of electrically charged particles to the earth, by the north and south poles of the earth's two ends of the magnetic pole of the magnetic pole of the attraction, have been to the poles to the operation of the region, so the aurora borealis will be concentrated in the north and south pole region.
The sun radiates a large number of protons and charged particles, high speed to the Earth's high-altitude atmosphere, with the atmosphere of thin gas atoms and molecules in the intense touch, it will be inspired by a variety of colors to emit a variety of unique light, aurora appeared on the lower edge of the altitude of the general 100 kilometers from the ground,
Aurora as an optical phenomenon, has now been seen by people with their own eyes and to the It has been studied for a long time, and it is actually a huge electromagnetic phenomenon. There are still many aspects of the physical processes involved in changing the shape and motion of the aurora that are not well understood, and scientists are now studying them further.