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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Mesmerizing Antarctica !!

Hello friends!

I would like to share some information about one of the worlds natural wonder...Antarctica! I am truly mesmerized with it's overwhelming beauty. Antarctica is perhaps the most mystical of all the continents and also the most misunderstood.

Antarctica and Arctic often are confused by many peoples. Antarctica is the land mass at the south pole the one with the cute Penguins. The arctic consists of ocean surrounded by continental land masses and islands.

Name:

Antarctica gets its name from the Greek. More than 2000 years ago, Greek writers described a large mass of land in the south of the world. Even though they had never seen it, they believed it must exist so that it could 'balance' the land they knew about in the northern half of the world. They named this imagined land 'Anti-Arkitos, meaning the 'opposite of the Arctic'.


Antarctica is twice the size of Australia and it is the dreamland for those who love ice, snow and water. The enormous ice shelves and the mountain ranges of the Antarctica will not leave us unsatisfied. Nothing is equivalent to Antarctica when it comes to natures grandeur.

Government :

The continent has no government and is not owned by any country. Many countries have claimed the continent at one time or another. There is also another law called the 'Antarctic Conservation Act'. This applies to everyone except people who are authorized.

There is also no official flag for Antarctica - mostly because there is no government or other authority to adopt such a flag. The various Antarctic Treaties make it clear that no one country can claim any part of that continent as a political possession.

It is Earths fifth largest continent and is covered almost completely in ice. Antarctica covers Earths South Pole. It has just two seasons : Summer and Winter, and it has six months of daylight in its summer and six months of darkness in its winter.

Every year coasts around Antarctica freeze and only the biggest ships can break the ice. All and all, Antarctica is an amazing place. Contrary to popular assumptions it is one of the driest place on earth as there has been no rainfall or snow over 100 years; yet holds 90 percent of the fresh water on the planet. This contradiction is just one of many that arise when considering this amazing continent.

Antarctica doesn't have anyone who was born there or whose ancestors come from there. It was the first and only continent that was " discovered ". Other continent already had plenty of people before any " explores " arrived. "No one had ever even seen Antarctica before 1820."

Global Warming Effect :

One big global warming effect is the melting of ice and snow in the Antarctica Peninsula. This can lead to increased sea levels , which can have effect i.e global wide. The global warming effect on Antarctica can have devastating results for the entire world. Coastal lands of every continent may become flooded due to rising sea levels.

Airports :

There are as such no developed airports for public access or landing facilities. There are 32 airports in Antarctica out of which none are paved. There are also 53 heliports in Antarctica.

Communication :

There are no main telephone lines in use or no mobile lines. There are local telephone lines. There are radio, AM NA, FM 2. But as Ham Radio came to rescue many of the communication is performed by these radio waves. There is 1 television cable system with only 6 channels.

It is said that global warming could kill many animals, and that man may in fact destroy a good part of this planet. We need to save our planet.

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