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Shackleton Ice Shelf
Shackleton Ice Shelf is an extensive ice shelf fronting the coast of East Antarctica from 95° E to 105° E. It extends for an along-shore distance of about , projecting seaward about in the western portion and in the east. It occupies an area of . It is part of Mawson Sea and separates the Queen Mary Coast to the west from the Knox Coast of Wilkes Land to the east. Discovery and naming The existence of this ice shelf was first made known by the USEE under Charles Wilkes who mapped a portion of it from the ''Vincennes'' in February 1840. It was explored by the Australian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson (1911–14) who named it for Sir Ernest Shackleton. The extent of the ice shelf was mapped in greater detail in 1955, using aerial photography obtained by US Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47. Further mapping by the Soviet Expedition of 1956 showed the portion eastward of Scott Glacier to be a part of this ice shelf. Important Bird Area A 500 ha ... [...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 ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Highjump
Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The operation was organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., USN (Ret), Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by Rear Admiral Ethan Erik Larson, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68. Operation HIGHJUMP commenced 26 August 1946 and ended in late February 1947. Task Force 68 included 4,700 men, 13 ships, and 33 aircraft. HIGHJUMP's objectives, according to the U.S. Navy report of the operation, were: # Training personnel and testing equipment in frigid conditions; # Consolidating and extending the United States' sovereignty over the largest practicable area of the Antarctic continent (publicly denied as a goal before the expedition ended); # Determining the feasibility of establishing, maintaining, and utilizing bases in the Antarctic a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ice Shelves Of Antarctica
This is a list of Antarctic ice shelves. Ice shelves are attached to a large portion of the Antarctic coastline. Their total area is 1,541,700 km2. Names are also listed in the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Gazetteer. The ice shelf areas are listed below, clockwise, starting in the west of East Antarctica: :† Indicates that the ice shelf has collapsed. See also *List of Antarctic ice streams * List of glaciers in the Antarctic *Retreat of glaciers since 1850 References {{Authority control Ice shelves An ice shelf is a large floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica, Greenland, Northern Canada, and the Russian Arctic. The b ... Antarctic ice shelves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penguin Colonies
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage and flippers for swimming. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sea life which they catch with their bills and swallow it whole while swimming. A penguin has a spiny tongue and powerful jaws to grip slippery prey. They spend roughly half of their lives on land and the other half in the sea. The largest living species is the emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri''): on average, adults are about tall and weigh . The smallest penguin species is the little blue penguin (''Eudyptula minor''), also known as the fairy penguin, which stands around tall and weighs . Today, larger penguins generally inhabit colder regions, and smaller penguins i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Areas Of Antarctica
Importance is a property of entities that matter or make a difference. For example, World War II was an important event and Albert Einstein was an important person because of how they affected the world. There are disagreements in the academic literature about what type of difference is required. According to the causal impact view, something is important if it has a big causal impact on the world. This view is rejected by various theorists, who insist that an additional aspect is required: that the impact in question makes a value difference. This is often understood in terms of how the important thing affects the well-being of people. So on this view, World War II was important, not just because it brought about many wide-ranging changes but because these changes had severe negative impacts on the well-being of the people involved. The difference in question is usually understood counterfactually as the contrast between how the world actually is and how the world would have be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chugunov Island
Chugunov Island () is a small ice-covered island, lying at the seaward extremity of the Shackleton Ice Shelf, between the projections of Denman Glacier Denman Glacier is a glacier wide, descending north some , which debouches into the Shackleton Ice Shelf east of David Island, Queen Mary Land. It was discovered in November 1912 by the Western Base party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition ... and Scott Glacier. It was mapped from aerial photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47. It was rephotographed by the Soviet expedition of 1956 and later named for N.A. Chugunov, an aerologist who lost his life in the Antarctic in 1958. See also * List of antarctic and sub-antarctic islands References * Islands of Queen Mary Land {{QueenMaryLand-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Antarctic Ice Shelves
This is a list of Antarctic ice shelves. Ice shelves are attached to a large portion of the Antarctic coastline. Their total area is 1,541,700 km2. Names are also listed in the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Gazetteer. The ice shelf areas are listed below, clockwise, starting in the west of East Antarctica: :† Indicates that the ice shelf has collapsed. See also *List of Antarctic ice streams * List of glaciers in the Antarctic *Retreat of glaciers since 1850 References {{Authority control Ice shelves An ice shelf is a large floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica, Greenland, Northern Canada, and the Russian Arctic. The b ... Antarctic ice shelves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Glaciers
A glacier ( ) or () is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creating crevasses, seracs, and other distinguishing features. Because glacial mass is affected by long-term climate changes, e.g., precipitation, mean temperature, and cloud cover, glacial mass changes are considered among the most sensitive indicators of climate change. There are about 198,000 to 200,000 glaciers in the world. Glaciers by continent Africa Africa, specifically East Africa, has contained glacial regions, possibly as far back as the last glacier maximum 10 to 15 thousand years ago. Seasonal snow does exist on the highest peaks of East Africa as well as in the Drakensberg Range of South Africa, the Stormberg Mountains, and the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Current ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Penguin
The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing from . Feathers of the head and back are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches. Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body, and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine habitat. Its diet consists primarily of fish, but also includes crustaceans, such as krill, and cephalopods, such as squid. While hunting, the species can remain submerged around 20 minutes, diving to a depth of . It has several adaptations to facilitate this, including an unusually structured haemoglobin to allow it to function at low oxygen levels, solid bones to reduce barotrauma, and the ability to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions. The only penguin specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide. It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy. BirdLife International has identified 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is the official International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List authority for birds. As of 2015, BirdLife International has established that 1,375 bird species (13% of the total) are threatened with extinction ( critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable). BirdLife International ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the Program is administered by the National Audubon Society. Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. History In 1985, following a specific request from the European Economic Community, Birdlife International d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Glacier (East Antarctica)
Scott Glacier () is a glacier, wide and over long, flowing north-northwest to the Antarctic coast between Denman Glacier and Mill Island. It was discovered by the Western Base Party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914) under Mawson and named for Capt. Robert F. Scott. See also * List of glaciers in the Antarctic * Chugunov Island Chugunov Island () is a small ice-covered island, lying at the seaward extremity of the Shackleton Ice Shelf, between the projections of Denman Glacier Denman Glacier is a glacier wide, descending north some , which debouches into the Shackleto ... References * Glaciers of Queen Mary Land {{Antarctica-glacier-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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