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300 Club
The 300 Club is a small number of individuals who have endured a temperature difference of within minutes. The group originated at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica and has since been established in North America. Participants in the Antarctic 300 Club wait for a winter day when the temperature drops to . This can happen in April to September (see South Pole). Because such cold temperatures may last only minutes, interested parties have to prepare in advance and be ready to act quickly. 300 Club participants spend up to 10 minutes in a sauna heated to . Then they quickly walk naked to the Ceremonial South Pole wearing only boots. They walk around the marker and return to the station. Participants move fast enough to minimize frostbite, but not so fast that they inhale so much cold air that they freeze their airway and lungs; properly clothed bystanders are often present to provide help if needed. After this, participants usually warm up in the sauna again, often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of . Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of . Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost . Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, . The coastal regions can reach temperatures over in summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceremonial South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the geographical pole, two points where Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipode (geography), antipodally on the opposite side of Earth from the North Pole, at a distance of 12,430 miles (20,004 km) in all directions. Situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of the United States Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. The Geographic South Pole is distinct from the South Magnetic Pole, the position of which is defined based on Earth's magnetic field. The South Pole is at the centre of the Southern Hemisphere. Geography For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the southern point of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface (the other being the Nor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipodally on the opposite side of Earth from the North Pole, at a distance of 12,430 miles (20,004 km) in all directions. Situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of the United States Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. The Geographic South Pole is distinct from the South Magnetic Pole, the position of which is defined based on Earth's magnetic field. The South Pole is at the centre of the Southern Hemisphere. Geography For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the southern point of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface (the other being the Geographic North Pole). However, Earth's axis of rotat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauna
A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is typically used to measure temperature; a hygrometer can be used to measure levels of humidity or steam. Infrared therapy is often referred to as a type of sauna, but according to the Finnish sauna organisations, infrared is not a sauna. History The oldest known saunas in Finland were made from pits dug in a slope in the ground and primarily used as dwellings in winter. The sauna featured a fireplace where stones were heated to a high temperature. Water was thrown on the hot stones to produce steam and to give a sensation of increased heat. This would raise the apparent temperature so high that people could take off their clothes. The first Finnish saunas were always of a type now called ''savusauna''; "smoke sauna". These diffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Vortex
A circumpolar vortex, or simply polar vortex, is a large region of cold, rotating air that encircles both of Earth's polar regions. Polar vortices also exist on other rotating, low-obliquity planetary bodies. The term polar vortex can be used to describe two distinct phenomena; the stratospheric polar vortex, and the tropospheric polar vortex. The stratospheric and tropospheric polar vortices both rotate in the direction of the Earth's spin, but they are distinct phenomena that have different sizes, structures, seasonal cycles, and impacts on weather. The stratospheric polar vortex is an area of high-speed, cyclonically rotating winds around 15 km to 50 km high, poleward of 50°, and is strongest in winter. It forms in Autumn when Arctic or Antarctic temperatures cool rapidly as the polar night begins. The increased temperature difference between the pole and the tropics causes strong winds and the Coriolis effect causes the vortex to spin up. The stratospheric polar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vostok Station
Vostok Station (russian: :ru:Восток (антарктическая станция), ста́нция Восто́к, translit=stántsiya Vostók, , meaning "Station East") is a Russian Research stations in Antarctica, research station in inland Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica. Founded by the Soviet Union in 1957, the station lies at the southern Pole of Cold, with the List of weather records#Lowest temperatures recorded, lowest reliably measured natural temperature on Earth of .Global Measured Extremes of Temperature and Precipitation. National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on 21 June 2007. Research includes ice core drilling and Magnetometer, magnetometry. Vostok (Russian for ''"east"'') was named after ''Vostok (sloop-of-war), Vostok'', the lead ship of the First Rus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pole Of Cold
The Poles of Cold are the places in the southern and northern hemispheres where the lowest air temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...s have been recorded. Southern hemisphere In the southern hemisphere, the Pole of Cold is currently located in Antarctica, at the Russian (formerly Soviet Union, Soviet) Antarctic station Vostok, Antarctica, Vostok at . On July 21, 1983, this station recorded a temperature of . This is the lowest naturally occurring temperature ever recorded on Earth. Vostok station is located at the elevation of above sea level, far removed from the moderating influence of oceans (more than from the nearest sea coast), and high latitude that results in almost three months of civil polar night every year (early May to end of July), all com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Bear Plunge
A polar bear plunge is an event held during the winter where participants enter a body of water despite the low temperature. In the United States, polar bear plunges are usually held to raise money for a charitable organization. In Canada, polar bear swims are usually held on New Year's Day to celebrate the new year. Canada In Canada, "Polar Bear Swims", "plunges" or "dips" are a New Year's Day tradition in numerous communities across the country. Vancouver, BC's annual Polar Bear Swim Club has been active since 1920 and typically has 1,000 to 2,000 registered participants, with a record 2,128 plunging into English Bay in 2000. Registration is not enforced and the actual number of swimmers may be significantly higher. Estimates of the number of observers are typically up to 10,000. Suburban White Rock, BC's was founded in 1958, and other suburbs including North Vancouver, Surrey, Delta and Langley also hold swims. Other locations include Bowen Island, BC, Sidney, BC,Edmonton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Line-crossing Ceremony
The line-crossing ceremony is an initiation rite that commemorates a person's first crossing of the Equator. The tradition may have originated with ceremonies when passing headlands, and become a "folly" sanctioned as a boost to morale,Robert FitzRoy (1839) ''Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836'', London: Henry Colburn. pp57–58 or have been created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long, rough voyages. Equator-crossing ceremonies, typically featuring King Neptune, are common in the Navy and are also sometimes carried out for passengers' entertainment on civilian ocean liners and cruise ships. They are also performed in the merchant navy and aboard sail training ships. Throughout history, line-crossing ceremonies have sometimes become dangerous hazing rituals. Most modern navies have instituted regulations that prohibit physical attacks on sailors under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rites Of Passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite de passage'', a French term innovated by the ethnographer Arnold van Gennep in his work ''Les rites de passage'', ''The Rites of Passage''. The term is now fully adopted into anthropology as well as into the literature and popular cultures of many modern languages. Original conception In English, Van Gennep's first sentence of his first chapter begins: "Each larger society contains within it several distinctly separate groupings. ... In addition, all these groups break down into still smaller societies in subgroups." The population of a society belongs to multiple groups, some more important to the individual than others. Van Gennep uses the metaphor, "as a kind of house divided into rooms and corridors." A passage occurs when an indiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
