The Antarctic

The Antarctic (South Pole), with its 14 million km2 continent remains the most enigmatic and little-known planet. The discovery of a huge freshwater lake, located under the thick ice of East Antarctica, has surprised scientists worldwide.

Antarctica is four times larger than the United States, has the nearest continent is South America (Land of Fire) to 3000 km, its maximum altitude is 5,000 meters (the largest in the world) is the oldest continent composed mostly high mountains and large ice coated inland lakes. Today has been explored only a fraction.

This continent was discovered less than 200 years ago, back in 1820 and has 14 million square kilometers, almost 75 times the area of ​​Uruguay. Only 2% (280,000 square kilometers) of its extension becomes free of ice in summer and there are areas with ice thicknesses up to 4000 meters. Its ecosystem is formed mainly by Krill (shrimp-like crustacean) which is the basis of the food pyramid which depend whales, penguins and birds.

The extreme climate of Antarctica makes the animal and plant life is very limited, only a few are able to withstand the extreme climate to compose the flora and fauna of the Antarctic white continent. There are only a few species of vegetation.
In Antarctica there are great places to valuable minerals, which today are untouched by man. We have found a lot of coal and other minerals such as oil and gas. Although banned in 1986’m going hunting today still perform many whaling vessels poaching in Antarctica, several of these vessels belong to Japan and Norway.

In different parts of Antarctica there are several scientific basis and each year thousands of people travel research or out of curiosity.

There are few places where voyages to Antarctica, one of those places is in Argentina at the Port of Ushuaia. Trips begin in austral season in late October and ends in late March.

Prices vary greatly and it is convenient to book several months before, as more people make these trips. Vessels departing the Port of Ushuaia, sail south to navigate Drake Passage located in the extreme northwest of the Peninsula, which is located 1,000 km from Tierra del Fuego. The trip takes two days.

The Antarctic (South Pole), with its 14 million km2 continent remains the most enigmatic and little-known planet. The discovery of a huge freshwater lake, located under the thick ice of East Antarctica, has surprised scientists worldwide. Antarctica is four times larger than the United States, has the nearest continent is South America (Land of Fire) to 3000 km, its maximum altitude is 5,000 meters (the largest in the world) is the oldest continent composed mostly high mountains and large ice coated inland lakes. Today has been explored only a fraction.

This continent was discovered less than 200 years ago, back in 1820 and has 14 million square kilometers, almost 75 times the area of ​​Uruguay. Only 2% (280,000 square kilometers) of its extension becomes free of ice in summer and there are areas with ice thicknesses up to 4000 meters. Its ecosystem is formed mainly by Krill (shrimp-like crustacean) which is the basis of the food pyramid which depend whales, penguins and birds.

The extreme climate of Antarctica makes the animal and plant life is very limited, only a few are able to withstand the extreme climate to compose the flora and fauna of the Antarctic white continent. There are only a few species of vegetation.

In Antarctica there are great places to valuable minerals, which today are untouched by man. We have found a lot of coal and other minerals such as oil and gas. Although banned in 1986’m going hunting today still perform many whaling vessels poaching in Antarctica, several of these vessels belong to Japan and Norway.

In different parts of Antarctica there are several scientific basis and each year thousands of people travel research or out of curiosity.

There are few places where voyages to Antarctica, one of those places is in Argentina at the Port of Ushuaia. Trips begin in austral season in late October and ends in late March.

Prices vary greatly and it is convenient to book several months before, as more people make these trips. Vessels departing the Port of Ushuaia, sail south to navigate Drake Passage located in the extreme northwest of the Peninsula, which is located 1,000 km from Tierra del Fuego. The trip takes two days.