Facts about Antartica

Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest and windiest continent on Earth Antarctica covers 14.2 million km² (5.5 million square miles) The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest ice store on earth Area: 5.4 million square mile (14 million kilometres) Mass: 7.2 million cubic miles (30 million cubic metres) Maximum depth: 15,669 feet (4776 metres) Average depth: 7000 feet (2160 metres) Covers roughly 98% of Antarctica Contains 90% of the ice on earth Contains 70% of the world’s freshwater An incredible 60-90% of the world’s fresh water is locked in Antarctica’s vast ice sheet. The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest on Earth, covering an incredible 14 million km² (5.4 million square miles) of Antarctic mountain ranges, valleys and plateaus. This leaves only 1% of Antarctica permanently ice-free. Some areas are ice-free in the summer, including many of the areas we visit on the Antarctic Peninsula. At its deepest, Antarctica’s ice is 4.5km (2.7 miles) thick – that’s half the height of Mt Everest! If it all melted, global sea levels would rise about 60 m (200 ft). With all of that fresh water held in the ice sheet, how could Antarctica be a desert? When most of us think of deserts we think of sand dunes and sizzling temperatures, but technically a desert doesn’t have to be hot or sandy, it’s more about how much precipitation the area receives as rain, snow, mist or fog. A desert is any region that receives very little annual precipitation. The average annual rainfall at the South Pole over the past 30 years was just over 10 mm (0.4 in). Although there is more precipitation towards the coast, the average across the continent is low enough to classify Antarctica as a polar desert. So while Antarctica may be covered in ice, it has taken an incredible 45 million years to grow to its current thickness, because so little rain falls there. As well as being one of the driest continents on Earth, Antarctica is also the coldest, windiest and highest. Given that the coldest ever land temperature was recorded in Antarctica of -89.2°C (-128.6°F), it can be hard to imagine Antarctica as a warm, temperate paradise. But Antarctica hasn’t always been an icy land locked in the grip of a massive ice sheet. In fact, Antarctica was once almost as warm as Melbourne is today. Researchers have estimated that 40-50 million years ago, temperatures across Antarctica reached up to 17°C (62.6°F). Scientists have also found fossils showing that Antarctica was once covered with verdant green forests and inhabited by dinosaurs! The Antarctic Peninsula is warming more quickly than many other areas on Earth. In fact, it is one of the most rapidly warming areas on the planet. Over the past 50 years, average temperatures across the Antarctic Peninsula have increased by 3°C (37.4°F), five times the average increase on Earth. This has led to some changes, for example where and when penguins form colonies and sea ice forms. It also means that the lush mosses of the Antarctic Peninsula have a slightly longer growing season. The question of time in Antarctica is a tricky one. At the South Pole the lines of longitude, which give us different time zones around the globe, all meet at a single point. Most of Antarctica experiences 6 months of constant daylight in summer and 6 months of darkness in winter. Time starts to feel a little different without the normal markers for day and night. Scientists working in Antarctica generally stay in the time zone of the country they departed from, but this can cause some issues. For example, on the Antarctic Peninsula you can find stations from Chile, China, Russia, the UK and many other countries. You can imagine that if all of these neighbouring stations, keep to their home time zones it could get a little confusing trying to share data and resources without accidentally waking one another up in the middle of the night! For travellers with Aurora Expeditions, we generally stay on Ushuaia time – unless we’re travelling to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Then we adjust to their local times, changing as we travel. If you stand at the South Pole, you are at the southernmost point on Earth. It doesn’t matter which way you look, every direction is north. So why do we talk about the Antarctic Peninsula as being in West Antarctica, and the section directly south of Australia as East Antarctica? It’s based on the prime meridian, an imaginary line which passes through Greenwich in the UK at 0 degrees of longitude. If you stand at the South Pole and face towards Greenwich, everything to your left is west Antarctica and everything to your right is east Antarctica. Antarctica is home to several volcanoes and two of them are active. Mount Erebus, the second-highest volcano in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano on Earth. Located on Ross Island, this icebound volcano has some unique features such as ice fumaroles and twisted ice statues that form around gases that seep from vents near the volcanic crater. The first ascent of Mt Erebus was made in 1908, when a team led by Australian scientist Edgeworth David, and including Douglas Mawson, completed an arduous and very chilly five day climb to the steaming crater. The second active volcano is on Deception Island, a volcanic caldera in the South Shetland Islands. Once home to a thriving whaling station and later a scientific station, it was abandoned after the most recent eruption in 1969, and today it is a fascinating place that we visit on some of our Antarctic Peninsula voyages. In 1911 on a remote glacier in East Antarctica, a strange phenomenon was observed. The lily white ice of the Taylor Glacier was being stained a deep red by water flowing from deep within the glacier. For many years the source of the red colour remained a mystery, but in 2017 scientists announced that they had discovered the cause. The water flowing from within the glacier was from a subglacial lake high in salt and oxidised iron, and when it came into contact with oxygen the iron rusted, giving the water its striking red shade, and its name: Blood Falls. When humans caught their first glimpse of Antarctica in 1820, it was the only continent without an indigenous population. Several nations quickly made claims to the continent, which led to significant tension. While some countries argued that Antarctica was rightfully theirs, others heartily disagreed. As tension mounted, everyone agreed on the need for a peaceful resolution. In December 1959, 12 countries signed the Antarctic Treaty, an unprecedented international agreement to govern the continent together as a reserve for peace and science. Since then, 41 other countries have signed the Treaty and participate in annual meetings, where decisions are made about how human activity in Antarctica is managed. All decisions made within the Antarctic Treaty System are made by consensus, with collaboration and agreement as the central pillars. Today, the Antarctic Treaty System has expanded to include strict guidelines for commercial fishing, sealing, and a complete ban on mining and mineral exploration. Although there are low levels of precipitation in Antarctica, meteorological wonders abound and diamond dust is one of them! Diamond dust is made of tiny ice crystals that precipitate out of humid air near the Earth’s surface. It’s a little like an icy fog. As ice crystals hang suspended in the air, sunlight causes them to sparkle, creating a glittering effect that looks like a million tiny floating diamonds. Diamond dust is also responsible for beautiful optical phenomena like sun dogs, halos and light pillars. If 10 fun facts about Antarctica just isn’t enough and you already checked our fun facts about the Arctic, here are a few more for the road: Did you know that penguins live in Antarctica but not the Arctic? Or that Antarctica has no permanent human population, but you might come a southern elephant seal, the largest seal on Earth? Antarctica is a truly incredible place, unlike anywhere else on earth. To find out more about how you can join an Antarctic expedition cruise or how to get to Antarctica, check out some of our upcoming trips here.

Facts about the VW Golf

The Golf is the 2nd best-selling car model of all time With over 30,000,000 units produced from 1974 to 2013, the VW Golf is the second most sold car model in automotive history. It comes second to the Toyota Corolla which has over 40,000,000 made. It is unlikely that VW will catch up to Toyota, but selling 30,000,000 is already a huge accomplishment. It has even sold more than the popular VW Beetle by over 9,000,000 units. Nobody is sure where the name “Golf” came from There are two likely candidates for how the name of the Golf came about. First is the theme of naming cars after winds or currents. The Passat (trade wind), Jetta (Jet Stream), Bora and Scirocco (Sirocco) are all names of winds. Golf is close to Gulf Stream which is another popular wind current. Another possible relationship for the name is the sport of Golf which would fit the sports theme that includes the VW Polo and VW Derby. There is no official word on how the name came about. The Golf GTI was an after-hours side project The Golf GTI, which is the “hot hatch” version of the Golf, was conceived after hours by a group of engineers who wanted to make a performance version of the car. They worked during evenings and weekends to develop the “Sport Golf”. The concept was shown to management but the reception was lukewarm at the time. The car made it to production for a limited run of 5000 units but the popularity of the hot hatch took off and to date over 1.9 million Golf GTI units have been sold. The Golf Platform is shared by a number of other cars The practice of sharing a platform started a long time ago and the VW Golf is no exception. The Golf uses the VW Group A platform and under the VW brand is has been used by the Beetle (new versions), Jetta, Bora, Scirocco, and Eos. The Group A platform is also used some other notable cars like the Audi TT, Audi A3, Skoda Yeti and SEAT Toledo. All these car brands are under the VW group. Ever heard of a W12 engine? The popular Bugatti Veyron and now the Chiron have the W16 engine which has broken all speed records for production cars. A one-off concept version of the Golf GTI was powered by the baby brother of the Bugatti engine, a W12. Essentially, the W12 engine is two V6 engines bolted together to run as a single power unit. This particular engine was taken from the Bentley Continental GT that was a 6.0-liter twin-turbo capable of producing a massive 641bhp and 531 lb-ft of torque. That’s some power for a tiny hatchback. It could go from naught to 62mph in 3.7 seconds and had a top speed of 202mph. Sadly, it never came into production.

Fun facts about Smart Fortwo

1. The concept for the Smart car started in the early 1970’s.smart car facts Mercedes-Benz engineer Johann Tomforde began to explore city car concepts and designs. He created the first concept sketch, but it wasn’t until the 1990’s that Mercedes assembled a team to start the design process. They studied how to make the vehicles efficient based on how people would use them in and around the city, and how they could improve their overall driving experience. They were all about innovation and driver experience from the very beginning. 2. The “timing” is right for Smart cars The Smart brand was officially born when successful Swiss watchmaker Swatch and established German automaker Mercedes Benz joined forces. Daimler-Benz agreed to manufacture the vehicles, helping the watchmaker get into the auto business. Their microcar name, Smart, is an acronym for “Swatch Mercedes Art.” 3. Smart cars have been around longer than you realize. The first Smart brand microcar was in production by 1994, but not made for sale in the United States until 2008. The United States was the 37th country to sell Smart cars and sold just under 25,000 units their first year of sales. 4. These cars have city smarts. Since microcars were created to be city vehicles, the small size was a huge part of the design. The original Smart car sketch measures 8.8 feet long, and the current models manufactured measure in at 101.6″ which is just under 8.5 feet in length. They are also very narrow measuring in at 65.5″ wide which is just under 5.5 feet. 5. Smart keeps it simple. The Smart car brand offers limited vehicle models, two of which are named after their passenger capabilities; The Fortwo, the Forfour, and the Brabus. They come in a coupe or a cabriolet body style and have different tiers such as pure, passion, prime, or proxy. Their Proxy model is the highest option level you can get, and their most expensive Twofor model is still under $30,000 making them very affordable for such a trendy car. Unfortunately, the only models available in the U.S currently are the Fortwos. 6. The Smart car takes a cue from the VW Beetle. The Smart car is a rear-engine, rear wheel drive car, and the package level and price have an impact on horsepower; the higher the cost, the more power you will have available. If you get the newly released fully electric version, it will come with a three-phase synchronous motor that has 80hp and goes a top speed of 81mph for a full range of 58 miles. 7. Smart is tougher than it looks.smart car facts Microcars have to have excellent safety features in place, and the Tridion Safety Cell frame is Smart car’s claim to fame. They once had a commercial featuring a large SUV placed on top of the frame in the middle of the street. While consumers were shocked to see how sturdy the Smart car frame was, the brand was later accused of photoshopping their commercials. Smart fought back with this youtube behind the scenes video to show that their Tridion Safety Cell frames are in fact that tough: