|
SY Aurora
SY ''Aurora'' was a 580-ton barque-rigged steam yacht built by Alexander Stephen and Sons Ltd. in Dundee, Scotland, in 1876, for the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company. She was long with a beam. The hull was made of oak, sheathed with greenheart and lined with fir. The bow was a mass of solid wood reinforced with steel-plate armour. The heavy side frames were braced by two levels of horizontal oak beams. Its primary use was whaling in the northern seas, and it was built sturdily enough to withstand the heavy weather and ice that would be encountered there. That strength proved useful for Antarctic exploration as well and between 1911 and 1917 it made five trips to the continent, for both exploration and rescue missions. Whaling Between the years 1876 and 1910, ''Aurora'' made the annual trip from Dundee, Scotland to St. John's, Newfoundland to take part in the whale and seal hunt in the North Atlantic. There were a couple of notable events in this time. In 1884, along wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Australasian Antarctic Expedition
The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored the largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia. Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest Shackleton's ''Nimrod'' expedition in 1907–1909. During its time in Antarctica, the expedition's sledging parties covered around of unexplored territory, while its ship, , navigated of unmapped coastline. Scientific activities included meteorological measurements, magnetic observations, an expansive oceanographic program, and the collection of many biological and geological samples, including the discovery of the first meteorite found in Antarctica. The expedition was the first to establish and maintain wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. Another planned innovation – the use of an aircraft – was thwarted by an accident before the expedition sailed. The plane's fuselage was adapted to form a motorised sledge or "air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hobart
Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly half of Tasmania's population, Hobart is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smallest by population and area after Darwin if territories are taken into account. Material was copied from this source, which is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Its skyline is dominated by the kunanyi / Mount Wellington, and its harbour forms the second-deepest natural port in the world, with much of the city's waterfront consisting of reclaimed land. The metropolitan area is often referred to as Greater Hobart, to differentiate it from the City of Hobart, one of the seven local government areas that cover the city. It has a mild maritime climate. The city lies on country which was known by the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Māori people, Māori, Scottish people, Scottish, and Chinese people, Chinese heritage. With an estimated population of as of , Dunedin is New Zealand's seventh-most populous metropolitan and urban area. For cultural, geographical, and historical reasons, the city has long been considered one of New Zealand's four main centres. The urban area of Dunedin lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, surrounding the head of Otago Harbour. The harbour and hills around Dunedin are the remnants of an extinct volcano. The city suburbs extend out into the surrounding valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the Otago Harbour and the Pacific Ocean. Archaeological evidence poin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Discovery Bay (Antarctica)
Discovery Bay is a bay long and wide, indenting the north side of Greenwich Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It had been known to sealers in the area since about 1821. It was charted and named in 1935 by Discovery Investigations personnel on the '' Discovery II''. The Chilean Antarctic Expedition of 1947, under the command of Captain Federico Guesalaga Toro, decided to rename the name ''Bahía Chile'' as the site of Chile's first permanent Antarctic base, Base Soberanía, now Capitán Arturo Prat Base. Antarctic Specially Protected Area Two marine sites in the bay have collectively been designated Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) 144 (formerly SSSI 26), to protect the bay's benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ... communities, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
McMurdo Sound
The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of HMS ''Terror''. The sound serves as a resupply route for cargo ships and airplanes that land on floating ice airstrips near McMurdo Station. The McMurdo seasonal Ice Runway was operated from October to December from the 1950s to the 2010s, then in December the ice breaks up and McMurdo port is opened by an Icebreaker ship and ships can resupply the Antarctic bases. Physical characteristics Boundary and extents The sound extends approximately 55 kilometers (34 mi) in length and width, and opens into the larger Ross Sea to the north. To the south, the sound is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf cavity, to the west lies the Royal Society Range, and to the east is Ross Island. McMurdo Sound is separated from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sea Ice
Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less density, dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oceans. Much of the world's sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earth's polar regions: the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean. Polar packs undergo a significant yearly cycling in surface extent, a natural process upon which depends the Arctic ecology, including the Arctic sea ice ecology and history, ocean's ecosystems. Due to the action of winds, currents and temperature fluctuations, sea ice is very dynamic, leading to a wide variety of ice types and features. Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs, which are chunks of ice shelf, ice shelves or glaciers that Ice calving, calve into the ocean. Depending on location, sea ice expanses may also incorporate icebergs. General features and dynamics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Ernest Shackleton, Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. After Roald Amundsen's Amundsen's South Pole expedition, South Pole expedition in 1911, this crossing remained, in Shackleton's words, the "one great main object of Antarctic journeyings". Shackleton's expedition failed to accomplish this objective but became recognised instead as an epic feat of endurance. Shackleton had served in the Antarctic on the Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and had led the Nimrod Expedition, ''Nimrod'' expedition of 1907–1909. In this new venture, he proposed to sail to the Weddell Sea and to land a shore party near Vahsel Bay, in preparation for a transcontinental march via the South Pole to the Ross Sea. A supporting group, the Ross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, Shackleton and his Anglo-Irish family moved to Sydenham, London, Sydenham in suburban south London when he was ten. Shackleton's first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, from which he was sent home early on health grounds, after he and his companions Scott and Edward Adrian Wilson set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S. During the Nimrod Expedition, ''Nimrod'' Expedition of 1907–1909, he and three companions established a new record Farthest South latitude of 88°23′ S, only 97 geographical miles (112 statute miles or 180 kilometres) fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Commonwealth Bay
Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km (30 mi) wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay. The bay was named by the Expedition after the Commonwealth of Australia. Katabatic wind Commonwealth Bay is listed in both the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' and the Eighth Edition of the ''National Geographic (magazine), National Geographic Atlas'' as the windiest place on Earth, with winds regularly exceeding per hour and an average annual wind speed of per hour. Storms are caused by katabatic wind, a concentrated flow of cold air moving along the steep surface of the ice shield towards the sea. The air flow is accelerated by the increasing gradient of the surface of ice and the cliff monolith at Cape Denison. In the summer there are periods of relative calm, but in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
George Ainsworth
George Frederick Ainsworth (20 June 1878 – 11 October 1950) was an Australian meteorologist, public servant and businessman who headed one of the component parts of the Australasian Antarctic expedition of 1911–1914. Early years Ainsworth was born in Lambton, New South Wales. At the age of 15 he joined the Department of Public Instruction as an assistant teacher, but transferred to the Meteorological Branch of the Department of Home Affairs in the Australian Public Service in 1910. He was then seconded to Mawson's Antarctic Expedition in the course of which he was in charge of the subantarctic Macquarie Island party for nearly two years – from December 1911 to November 1913. His responsibilities on Macquarie included the establishment of a weather station, as well as a radio relay station on Wireless Hill which pioneered the first radio communications between Antarctica and the outside world.Gibbney (1979). Public servant In 1915, Ainsworth was commissioned in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis (22 June 1887 – 14 December 1912) was an English officer in the Royal Fusiliers and an Antarctic explorer who was a member of Douglas Mawson's 1911 Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Family Ninnis was the son of British arctic explorer Belgrave Ninnis (1837–1922), Inspector Surgeon General of the Royal Navy and member of Captain Sir George Nares' British Arctic Expedition of 1875–1876. Ninnis' cousin, Aubrey Howard Ninnis (1883–1956) was also a part of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, having briefly been a part of the crew on board the '' Terra Nova'' before joining the Ross Sea party contingent of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition as a purser. Antarctica, 1911–1912 Following the fame he achieved on Ernest Shackleton's 1907 Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica, Douglas Mawson travelled to England in early 1910 to raise interest and sponsorship for an Australian Expedition focussed on scientific outcomes. On that tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Xavier Mertz
Xavier Guillaume Mertz (6 October 1882 – 8 January 1913) was a Swiss polar exploration, polar explorer, mountaineer, and skier who took part in the Far Eastern Party, a 1912–1913 component of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, on which he died. Mertz Glacier on the George V Coast in East Antarctica is named after him. While a student, Mertz became active as a skier, competing in national competitions, and as a mountaineer, climbing many of the highest peaks in the Alps. In early 1911, Mertz was hired by geologist and explorer Douglas Mawson for his Antarctic expedition. He was initially employed as a ski instructor, but in Antarctica, Mertz instead joined Belgrave Edward Ninnis in the care of the expedition's Greenland huskies. In the summer of 1912–1913, Mertz and Ninnis were chosen by Mawson to accompany him on the Far Eastern Party, using the dogs to push rapidly from the expedition's base in Adélie Land towards Victoria Land. After Ninnis and a sledge carryin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
