Scientific stations of the USSR

The network of Soviet Antarctic stations began to be created in 1956 in connection with preparations for the International Geophysical Year and the beginning of the activities of Soviet Antarctic Expeditions. The main base, the Mirny observatory, was built on the coast of the Davis Sea. Initially, Soviet Antarctic stations were opened in the central part of the coast and in the depths of East Antarctica. After the IGY, most of these stations were closed. Subsequently, Soviet stations were opened in other areas.

Bellingshausen(62°12" S 58°58" W, 16 m above sea level). The station is located on the southwestern tip of King George Island (Waterloo), on the Fildes Peninsula. The main station facilities are built on an ice-free site on the banks of a stream flowing from a small lake and flowing into Ardley Bay.

King George Island (Waterloo), part of the South Shetland Archipelago, was first mapped by the expedition of F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev in February 1821 and named Waterloo in memory of the famous victory over Napoleon's troops. The name King George was later given to him by the British. Its length is about 80 km, width 30 km, area 1338 km2. Almost all of it is covered with ice, and only the southwestern tip, where the station is located, is free from ice cover. This area has a hilly relief with heights of 100-200 m. Numerous lakes are located between the hills.

The climatic conditions here are milder than in the areas where other Soviet Antarctic stations are located. The average annual temperature is about -4°, in the winter months frosts can reach -27°, but even in the middle of winter there are thaws. In summer the air temperature rises to 6-8° above zero. The sky is overcast almost all the time, precipitation falls almost every day. There are many seals in the station area, including elephant seals and leopard seals, fur seals, and many birds.

The complex of station facilities includes a power station, a radio station, residential, service and storage facilities, an aerological pavilion with a radar, a meteorological site, fuel tanks and other structures.

The station was opened on February 22, 1968. 11 people remained for the first wintering, in subsequent years the wintering staff increased to 23 people.

Aerometeorological, oceanological, glaciological, geophysical observations, as well as biological and medical research are carried out at the station. In addition, it serves as a base for field route research on the island.

In 1970, the Chilean station President Eduarde Frey was opened on the Fildes Peninsula near the Soviet Bellingshausen station.

East(78°28" S 106°48" E, 3488 m above sea level). The station is located in the depths of East Antarctica in the region of the South geomagnetic pole and the cold pole of our planet. It is located at a distance of 1260 km from the coast and 1410 km from Mirny. The thickness of the ice cover in this area is 3700 m, and the upper layers of snow and firn are more than 60 m.

Clear, partly cloudy weather prevails in the station area with very low temperatures throughout the year. The average annual air temperature is -55°, maximum -13.6°, minimum -88.3°. The round-the-clock polar night lasts almost 4 months (from April 24 to August 20).

The main facilities of the station, located on the snowy surface of the glacial plateau, consist of the main building with a wardroom, a residential building, which is equipped with a small meeting and sports hall, an aerological pavilion with a radar, a power station, a drilling rig building and other service premises. Two forty-meter metal masts rise above the station, on which an antenna is suspended for special geophysical observations. An airstrip is laid 100 meters from the station.

The Vostok station was opened on December 16, 1957. In the first years, the wintering staff consisted of 11-16 people, and since 1970 it increased to 23 people. On January 21, 1962, due to temporary difficulties in supply, the Vostok station was mothballed and no work was carried out on it until January 25, 1963.

The station performs systematic observations in aerometeorology, geophysics, glaciology, as well as medical research. Since 1970, drilling of the ice sheet has been carried out here. In addition, it is the base for field route research in Central Antarctica.

The supply of the station and the change of wintering personnel are carried out from Mirny by aircraft and sledge-caterpillar trains.

Leningradskaya(69°30" S 159°23" E, 300 m above sea level). Located on the Ots Coast (northern coast of Victoria Land). Station facilities are located on an ice-free area on top of the nunatak, one kilometer from the coast. The sea near the station is covered with ice all year round. Fast ice is established near the coast, the width of which reaches 50-60 km by the end of winter. The air temperature in this area is negative for almost the entire year. Only on rare summer days does it rise above zero, while in winter frosts exceed 30-40 °. Hurricanes often rage, accompanied by snowstorms. More than a month and a half, from the end of May to mid-July, the polar night lasts.

The station facilities consist of several houses and outbuildings, which housed living quarters, a wardroom, a medical center, a radio station, a power station, a workshop, a warehouse, a bath-laundry and other services.

The station was opened on February 25, 1971. Observations on meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, oceanology and glaciology are carried out on it. In the first year, the wintering staff of the station consisted of 7, and in subsequent years - 11-13 people. The change of wintering personnel and the supply of the station are carried out by expedition ships. Under favorable conditions, cargo is delivered along fast ice by sledge-caterpillar transport, and when this is not possible, by helicopters and airplanes.

Peaceful(66°33"S, 93°01°E, 35 m above sea level). The Mirny Observatory is located on the coast of the Davis Sea, known as the Pravda Coast. The sea in this area is covered with drift ice and icebergs almost all year round. Fast ice is annually established near the coast, the width of which by the end of winter reaches 30-40 km.

The coast in the Mirny area is characterized by stable and frequent strong winds, as well as negative temperatures throughout almost the entire year. The average air temperature in Mirny is -11.3°, maximum +8°, ​​minimum -40°. The most frequent storms and hurricanes in winter, accompanied by snowstorms. The observatory is located exactly on the Arctic Circle, so there is no round-the-clock polar night here. During the polar day in December, thanks to refraction, even at midnight the sun does not fall below the horizon; however, this is observed only for a few days.

The buildings of the scientific village were built partly on outcrops of bedrock, and partly on the surface of a glacier 80-100 m thick. In 1973, the reconstruction of Mirny began. On the ice-free hills of Komsomolskaya and Radio, three large two-story houses were built, which housed living quarters, laboratories, a wardroom, a radio station and other service premises. On the tops of the hills Komsomolskaya and Morena, as well as on a small island, there are fuel depots.

In the area of ​​the observatory on the surface of the glacier, a runway for planes on skis is equipped. The observatory has a large fleet of tracked vehicles (tractors, tractors, all-terrain vehicles) used to unload ships and supply Vostok station.

The Mirny observatory was opened on February 13, 1956. Until 1971, it was the main base of the Soviet Antarctic expeditions. Wintering staff 57-145 people. A wide range of aerometeorological and geophysical research is carried out in Mirny. Systematic glaciological, oceanological, biological observations and medical research are also carried out. In addition, Mirny is a base for field route research in the depths of the continent and on the coast, as well as a supply base for the Vostok inland station.

Youth(67°40" S 45°50" E, 42 m above sea level). The Soviet Antarctic Meteorological Center Molodezhnaya is located in the western part of Enderby Land on the shores of Alasheev Bay (Cosmonauts Sea). The settlement is located in a small coastal oasis (Tala hills) 0.5-0.6 km from the coast. The oasis is a hilly area with ridges of ice-free and snow-free rocks separated by snow-covered depressions. To the south of the village, the surface of the glacier rises, and already at a distance of 10 km its height reaches more than 500 m.

The climate in the Molodezhnaya area, as well as in the Mirny area, is characterized by negative air temperatures throughout almost the entire year, as well as strong and frequent winds. Air temperatures: average annual -11°, maximum +8.5°, minimum -42°. The Cosmonauts Sea in the Molodyozhnaya area is covered with ice for most of the year. Lots of icebergs. The width of fast ice by the end of winter reaches almost 100 km. The polar night lasts half a month, from June 15 to June 30, and the polar day lasts almost a month and a half, from early December to mid-January.

The construction of Molodezhnaya began on February 23, 1962. Scientific observations began at the same time. However, in the first year it was not possible to provide the station with everything necessary for wintering, and on March 31 it was mothballed. The construction of the station and scientific observations were resumed on January 4, 1963. Since then, work at Molodyozhnaya has been ongoing.

The Molodyozhnaya Scientific Village has more than 70 different structures. These structures include residential buildings, a dining room - a wardroom of the computer building, a receiving and transmitting radio station, a power plant with four diesel generators, a rocket sounding station, an aerological pavilion and other office premises. Fuel depots are metal containers that are periodically replenished by tankers.

In the area of ​​​​the village on the glacial surface, a runway for ski planes is equipped. The creation of an airfield for heavy aircraft has begun.

During the first two years of the existence of Molodezhnaya station, its wintering staff consisted of only 11-12 people, but in subsequent years, the wintering "population" of Molodyozhnaya gradually increased and in 1971 exceeded 100 people. Starting this year, Molodezhnaya became the main base of the Soviet Antarctic Expeditions. The management of wintering expeditions is located here, and the station itself has turned into the Antarctic Meteorological Center A complex of agrometeorological and geophysical studies is being carried out on Molodyozhnaya (including rocket sounding of the atmosphere, receiving satellite information, radar of meteor trails, etc.), as well as observations in oceanology , glaciology, biological and medical research. In addition, the collection of meteorological information from all Soviet Antarctic stations and its primary processing (with the help of the Minsk-32 computer) are entrusted to Molodyozhnaya. Molodezhnaya is also the base for field route research in the adjacent areas of East Antarctica.

The supply and change of personnel is carried out with the help of expedition ships, for the unloading of which helicopters and airplanes are used.

Novolazarevskaya(70°46"S 11°50"E, 99 m a.s.l.) Located on bedrock outcrops at the eastern end of the Schirmacher Oasis on the coast of Queen Maud Land, approximately 80 km from the coast of the Lazarev Sea To the north from the station, towards the sea, the slightly undulating surface of the ice shelf extends, and from the south, the slope of the continental ice sheet, the surface of which already 50 km from the station reaches a height of 1000 m.

The sea in this region is covered with drifting ice all year round; by the end of winter, fast ice reaches a width of 15-25 km. The average annual air temperature in the station area is -11°, the minimum is -41°, the maximum is +9.9° Often, especially in winter, hurricane winds blow, accompanied by strong snowstorms. The polar night lasts about two months.

The station facilities consist mainly of wooden prefabricated panel houses, which house living quarters, a wardroom, a power station, a radio station, scientific laboratories, warehouses and other service premises.

There are runways on the surface of the glacier near the station. The station was opened on January 18, 1961. It carries out a complex of observations in aerometeorology, geophysics, glaciology, oceanology, as well as

medical research is underway. The station serves as a base for field route research in the adjacent areas of the mainland.

Station staff - 12-23 people. The change of personnel and the supply of the station are carried out by expedition ships and ground sledge-caterpillar transport.

Soviet Antarctic stations, previously operating

Station Oasis January 21, 1959 transferred to the Polish People's Republic, was named Dobrovolska.

No country in the world owns this continent, it has no government, president or king. And just 70 years ago, there was a fierce struggle among the leading powers of the world for the possession of these lands. We are talking about the sixth continent - Antarctica, which has gone from "a useless land for mankind" to a "treasure box".

ANT-ARCTOS

The ancient Greeks were the first to talk about the mysterious southern land. Arctos - so they called the icy land known to them in the northern hemisphere and believed that there should be a similar land in the southern hemisphere, opposite the Arctic (literally Ant-Arctos) - Antarctica. This idea was actively supported by scientists of the Middle Ages. Starting from the 16th century, Ant-Arctos was placed on maps near the South Pole, and attempts to find this land were made by the Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias, Ferdinand Magellan and the Dutchman Abel Tasman.

ATTEMPT COOK

The first serious attempt to find Antarctica was made by James Cook (with the support of the Royal Society of London). The scientific interest of the expedition was associated with the study of the passage of Venus through the solar disk, but the main goal was the search for Antarctica. In August 1768, the ship with the telling name "Attempt" ("Endeavor") set off for the South.

Cook made as many as three such expeditions, during which the South Sandwich Islands and were discovered, but Antarctica remained out of reach. At around 71 degrees south latitude, the Endeavor's path was blocked by impenetrable ice, and after all, only 200 kilometers remained to the cherished goal! Nevertheless, for the first time in the history of the study of the southern polar latitudes, a person managed to go beyond the Arctic Circle and dispel the myth about the existence of a huge South Earth, which medieval scientists mapped around the pole. In a book about his journey, Cooke wrote:

"VOSTOK" AND "PEACE"

In the Russian Empire, however, they did not think so. Outstanding navigators of that time - Ivan Kruzenshtern and Vasily Golovin - insistently declared the need for a special expedition to the waters of Antarctica. It was thanks to the assistance of Ivan Krusenstern that a grandiose scientific expedition was organized, led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

On July 16, 1319, the wooden sloops Vostok and Mirny left Kronstadt, and on January 28, 1820 they reached the icy mainland. At the same time, two more expeditions were looking for Antarctica. The American Nathaniel Palmer and the British subject Edward Bransfield independently announced that they had seen the mainland. But Bellingshausen was the first, ten months before Palmer and only three days before Bransfield. The Russian expedition lasted 751 days, 100 thousand kilometers were covered, a new mainland and 29 adjacent islands were discovered, named after the battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 (later renamed by the British). In addition to geographical discoveries, a large number of important astronomical, oceanographic and synoptic observations were made.

CHUR. I AM THE FIRST!

After the expedition of Lazarev and Bellingshausen, a turmoil began around Antarctica, similar, according to the apt comparison of one publicist, with “the hysteria of a late train”.

The British, French, Americans, Norwegians - all tried to get to the southern mainland. American John Davis was the first to set foot on the ice of Antarctica in February 1821. The Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink was the first to successfully winter in Antarctica (1899-1900), using dog teams to move around the glaciers.

In 1911, an Antarctic race broke out between the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott for the right to be called the first person to reach the South Pole. The sad result of the unspoken confrontation: the championship went to Amundsen, and Scott's expedition tragically died on the way back from cold, hunger and physical exhaustion.

HOT SPOT

In the 20th century, Antarctica also became interested: from 1901 to 1939, she sent three expeditions there, the last two on the eve of two world wars.

Of course, not only the Germans “studied” Antarctica in those days. As early as January 1939, the Stalinist government filed an official protest against the governments, and due to the fact that their Antarctic expeditions

"... engaged in unreasonable division into sectors of lands once discovered by Russian explorers and navigators ...".

Interestingly, immediately after the victory of 1945, the Soviet Union won another, no less serious victory - for Antarctica. After the end of the war, the US government organized a special squadron of 14 warships to study the nature of the southern continent. In response, the USSR sent the Slava whaling flotilla to Antarctica, which had an impressive number of destroyers and submarines. After some time, the Americans urgently retreated and arrived to their native shores with great material and human losses, which is now almost never mentioned anywhere.

TREASURE BOX

The unofficial beginning of research activities in Antarctica is considered to be the Borchgrevnik expedition, which wintered in 1899 at Cape Ader.

After 4 years, the Argentine scientific station "Orcadas" was created on the island of Lori, which has been operating without interruption to the present day. The Australian station appeared a little later, in 1911, after which scientific activity on the mainland subsided. Immediately after the end of World War II, the United States declared Antarctica a "treasure box", and research activity resumed on a new scale. In 1956, the first Soviet observatory and research base was built - the village of Mirny. And a year later, a unique research station "Vostok-1" appeared - the only inland Antarctic research station currently used by Russia. Nowadays, more than 70 scientific stations operate on the mainland, but only a little over forty operate all year round.

PLACE OF PEACE AND SCIENCE

After the International Geophysical Year (1957-1959), 65 countries sent their research expeditions to the Antarctic lands. The continent of ice itself was declared a place of peace and science. By coincidence, the convention on "universal" Antarctica came into force in 1961, when it was officially announced about the huge reserves of uranium (and also coal, gold, silver, lead, iron) in the bowels of Antarctica.

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent:
its area is about 14107000 km 2,
of which shelf
glaciers - 930000 km 2,
islands - 75,500 km 2.

Antarctica is divided into two parts - western and eastern. Western (6,475,000) includes an archipelago of mountainous islands. Eastern (7,700,000 km2) is a high plateau covered with ice. Both parts of the continent are separated by a mountain range.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANTARCTICA

- the least explored continent;

- the only continent without time zones: in winter it almost doubles when ice covers the seas surrounding it;

- is not a state, but has an unofficial currency - the Antarctic dollar. In 1996-2001, it was issued by the Antarctic Overseas Bank, founded by a group of enthusiasts. 1,2,5,10,20,50 and 100 dollars could be easily exchanged for American currency at face value, the proceeds were used to finance scientific research in Antarctica;

- the driest place on Earth: the average rainfall here is 10 cm per year.

In Antarctica are:

— more than 140 subglacial lakes, the largest of them is Lake Vostok;

- points of the strongest and longest wind and the most powerful solar radiation;

- volcanoes - the most active of them - Erebus;

— more than 70 scientific stations, of which more than 40 are year-round;

- the cleanest sea in the world - the Weddell Sea: it is transparent, almost like distilled water;

- dry valleys that have not known rain and snow for 2 million years.

In Antarctica:

- at the Russian station "Vostok" the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded - minus 89.2 ° C;

— the cleanest sky for space exploration;

- minus 60-75 °С in winter (June, July, August); minus 30-50 °С in summer (December, January, February);

— not so cold on the coast: in winter from -8 to -35 °С, in summer - from 0 to +5 °С;

- over the years of research, about 200 thousand people have visited;

- in 2007, the first passenger plane landed;

- you can find two flowering plants - colobant kito (a distant relative of carnation) and antarctic meadow grass (from the bluegrass family);

- about 1,000 people live in winter, from 4,000 in summer;

- in 1978 the first person was born - the Argentinean Emilio Marcos Palma;

- Women researchers also work, most often in the summer months. A purely female wintering was organized only once - in 1990-1991, at the German Antarctic station "Georg von Mayer". Six months after it began, the management sent male specialists to the station to bring infrastructure facilities into a normal technical condition.

THREE ANTARCTIS

This is what Antarctica looks like without its ice shell. True, today you can see this only with the help of geolocation and your own imagination.

But 150 million years ago, when the current "ice" was just heading towards the South Pole and was part of the Gondwana supercontinent, there were subtropics here.

	ANTARCTICA 500 MILLION YEARS BACK. Goidwana is formed from separate geological blocks, the East Antarctic Platform meets the Pacific mobile belt (it includes the modern Andes, Cordillera, island arcs of the Pacific Ocean, including the Antarctic Peninsula), and the Transantarctic Mountains arise at their junction.
	ANTARCTICA 200-80 MILLION YEARS BACK. Africa is consistently leaving Antarctica,.
	ANTARCTICA 35 MILLION YEARS BACK. Moves away, a cold southern circular current arises, ice covers eastern Antarctica
	ANTARCTICA 14 MILLION YEARS BACK. South America is the last to depart, the Antarctic Andes remain in memory of it near the icy continent - part of a once single mountain range, the Drake Strait is formed. ice covers West Antarctica,

Not everything is ice that glacier. The ice sheet of Antarctica is a layered cake. Top 100-150 meters - snow and firn (old granular snow). Deeper begins the real ice. But it also differs in structure at different depths: from millimeter-sized crystals in the upper layers to huge two-meter single crystals at the base of the glacier.

The glacier is moving. Under its own pressure, it flows from the central regions, where glaciation occurs, to the periphery of the mainland. This is how floating ice shelves are formed, from which icebergs break off. The largest ice shelves in Antarctica (and in the world) are the Ross Glacier and the Weddell Glacier, which completely cover the seas of the same name.

INTERESTING FACTS

- The volume of the Antarctic glacier is 30 million km 3. This is 61% of all fresh water on Earth. If it melts, sea levels will rise by 70 meters.

- An ice sheet is a glacier with an area of ​​\u200b\u200bmore than 50,000 km 2 and a thickness of more than 1000 m. The area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ice sheet of Antarctica is 14 million km 2, and the thickness ranges from 1.1 km in West Antarctica to 4.8 km in East - on the Schmidt Plain .

- The glacier covers 98% of the mainland, with the exception of a few open places in the Transantarctic Mountains. Its topography does not match that of the land below it.

Antarctic research station "Vostok"

Cold Pole of the Earth
(from the cycle "On the backyard of the planet")

Vostok Station- Russian Antarctic research station, the only one currently used by Russia inside the continent. Named after the sailing sloop Vostok, one of the ships of the Antarctic expedition of 1819-1821. As a unique research station, it was founded on December 16, 1957 during the 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition. For a long time, V. S. Sidorov was the head of the station.

Climatic conditions in the area of ​​the station are among the most severe on Earth. They are distinguished by very severe frosts throughout the year. The lowest temperature on the planet of all meteorological stations in the 20th century was recorded here: -89.2 degrees C (July 21, 1983). The warmest summer day at Vostok station for the entire time of its existence remains the day of December 16, 1957. Then the thermometer recorded 13.6 degrees below zero. The region was named the Pole of Cold of the Earth. The thickness of the ice cover under the station is 3700 m.

Severe frosts contribute to almost zero air humidity in the station area. The average annual wind speed is about 5 m/s, the maximum is 27 m/s (almost 100 km/h). The height of the location of the "Vostok" is 3488 meters above sea level, which causes an acute shortage of oxygen. Due to the low air temperature in the station area, its pressure drops faster with height than in the middle latitudes, and it is estimated that the oxygen content in the atmosphere in the station area is equivalent to an altitude of five thousand meters. Air ionization is greatly increased. The partial pressure of gases also differs from that in air familiar to us. And an acute shortage of carbon dioxide in the air in these places leads to failures in the mechanism of respiration regulation.

The polar night lasts from April 23 to August 20, 120 days a year, which is just under 4 months, or a third of the entire year. Only two months a year the average monthly air temperature exceeds -40 degrees C and four months - -60 degrees C. From March to October there are severe frosts, and only in November relatively comfortable conditions come.

Acclimatization to such conditions lasts from one week to one to two months and is accompanied by dizziness and flickering in the eyes, ear pain and nosebleeds, a feeling of suffocation and a sharp increase in pressure, loss of sleep and decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, pain in the joints and muscles , weight loss from three to five (cases up to 12 are known) kilograms.

The average temperature of the warmest months, December and January, is -35.1 and -35.5 degrees C, respectively, which is equivalent to a cold Siberian winter. The average temperature of the coldest month, August, is -75.3 degrees C, sometimes falling below -88.3 degrees C. For comparison: January 1892 in Verkhoyansk (the coldest in the history of observations in Russia) had an average temperature of -57.1 degrees C. The coldest daily temperature maximum is -52 degrees C; in May, the temperature did not rise above -41.6 degrees C during the entire measurement period. Precipitation is practically non-existent here. The average annual rainfall is only about 18 mm.

The research station "Vostok" is located 1253 km from the South Pole, 1410 km from the station "Mirny" and 1260 km from the nearest sea coast. It is almost impossible to get to the station in winter, which means that polar explorers cannot count on outside help. Delivery of goods to the station is carried out by aircraft (in the summer, relatively warm period) and by sledge-caterpillar train (at other times) from Mirny station. Vladimir Sanin described in detail the difficulties of cargo delivery by this method in his books “Newcomer to Antarctica” and “72 degrees below zero”.

Vostok is located close to the South geomagnetic pole of the Earth and is one of the most suitable places to study changes in the Earth's magnetic field. Usually at the station in the summer there are 40 people - scientists and engineers. In winter, their number is reduced to 20. For more than forty years, Russian specialists have been conducting research here on hydrocarbon and mineral raw materials, drinking water reserves; carry out aero-meteorological, actinometric, geophysical and glaciological observations, as well as special medical research; are engaged in the study of climate change, the study of the "ozone hole", the problems of rising water levels in the World Ocean, etc. Here, in the mid-1990s, as a result of drilling glacial deposits (first with thermal drilling projectiles, and then with electromechanical projectiles on a load-carrying cable), it was discovered the unique relic lake Vostok (the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica). The lake is located under an ice sheet about 4000 m thick and measures approximately 250x50 km. The estimated area is 15.5 thousand sq. km. Depth over 1200 m.

On the night of April 13, 1982, as a result of a fire, the main and backup diesel generators were completely out of order, and the station remained de-energized. For 8 months, 20 people spent a heroic winter, warming themselves with home-made diesel-fueled potbelly stoves, until a sledge-caterpillar train with a new diesel-electric installation arrived from Mirny. Interestingly, the station is approximately the same distance from the equator as the cities of Longyearbyen and Barentsburg on Svalbard in the Northern Hemisphere, where the absolute minimum temperature is only -46.3 degrees C, the absolute maximum is as much as +17.5 degrees C, and the average annual temperature is -14.4 degrees C. This difference is created by the special climate of Antarctica.

The least studied and most inhospitable continent on Earth is Antarctica. The population of the continent ranges from 1 to 4 thousand people. Read about the main features, the history of development and the inhabitants of the "ice" mainland in our article.

Antarctica: general information about the mainland and its resources

Almost everyone knows that this continent is the coldest on the planet. It was on its territory (at the Russian polar station Vostok) that the air in the world was recorded - 89.2 degrees with a minus sign.

But few people know about other records of Antarctica. So, the mainland is also the driest, highest and windiest on Earth. Indeed, it was the lack of drinking water that was the main problem for everyone who dared to conquer the expanses of the continent called Antarctica. The population of the mainland also has its own characteristics. However, this will be discussed later.

It should be noted that Antarctica and its natural resources do not belong to any of the modern states of the world. Although in the past centuries, many empires tried to establish their control over one or another part of the mainland. In 1991, the world community officially approved a special Protocol, one of the articles of which prohibits the conduct of any economic activity on the territory of Antarctica (in particular, the development of its rich subsoil). True, the inhabitants of the planet are already very acutely aware of the shortage of many mineral resources. Therefore, it is not known how long this protocol will be in force.

Antarctica: population of the mainland and its characteristics

Seals, arctic terns, skuas and emperor penguins are the most typical inhabitants of the cold mainland. Until the beginning of the 19th century, geographers could safely read out this list of animals, answering the question: “Who lives in Antarctica?” However, in 1820, everything changed dramatically: for the first time, a human foot set foot on the firmament of the continent.

Who lives in Antarctica today? And what is its total population?

Immediately it is worth mentioning that there is no permanent population in Antarctica due to too extreme weather and climatic conditions. This means that only scientists, service personnel and tourists inhabit the mainland. All of them are here temporarily.

How many people are attracted to Antarctica? The population of the continent is about a thousand people in the winter season. In summer, its number can reach 4,000 people. On the mainland, the most popular languages ​​are English, French, Russian and Spanish.

In 1978, a human child was born here for the first time. It was an Argentine citizen, Emilio Marcos Palma. But in 2007, the first ever wedding ceremony took place in Antarctica.

History of the development of the mainland. Russian Antarctica

The history of Russian exploration of the mainland began as early as 1819, when an expedition led by Lazarev and Bellingshausen set off south from Kronstadt. It was she who opened the sixth continent to the world. The Russian Empire also showed great interest in Antarctica at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, organizing several serious scientific expeditions.

In 1946, as some historians suggest, a serious military battle for Antarctica took place. After the end of World War II, the then allies - the USA and the USSR - sent powerful military squadrons to the shores of the continent. As a result, the American expedition returned far from being at full strength. However, the details of this Antarctic battle are still shrouded in a mass of secrets and assumptions.

Russian Antarctic stations

To date, 30 states have their own scientific stations in Antarctica. Among them is Russia, which has seven such bases on the mainland. These are Vostok, Progress, Bellingshausen, Novolazarevskaya, Molodezhnaya, Mirny and Leningradskaya stations. Each of them is interesting in its own way.

So, in 1983, at the Vostok station, an absolute record of low temperature on Earth was recorded. This is one of the most severe (in terms of weather) places on our planet. Recently, the "pole of cold" was decorated with a monument to Lenin - the southernmost in the world.

At another Russian station, Bellingshausen, the first Orthodox church on the mainland was built in 2004. But "Novolazarevskaya" boasts the only Russian bath on the entire continent!

But the main center of Russian Antarctica today is the Progress station. It performs research, administrative and logistical functions. An excellent sports complex for polar explorers with a sauna, medical equipment and various exercise equipment was created here.