THE ANTARCTICA

Today I’m going to talk about a very interesting topic for my certification video, this
topic being the Antarctica, why the antarctica you ask because the Antarctica is one
less popular regions in the planet, usually the more popular regions are those that have
unique and exotic flora and fauna or simply look pretty in post cards or photographs, so
naturally the white and cold antarctica isn’t mentioned but the Antarctica is one of the
most precious and full of live regions in the planet so let’s talk about it for a moment.
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and
is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere and is surrounded by the
Southern Ocean. It’s 14 million square kilometers making it the fifth-largest continent
and nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that
averages 1.9 km in thickness.
Etymology
The long-imagined south polar continent was originally called Terra Australis,
sometimes shortened to Australia then in the nineteenth century New Holland (todays
Australia) took the name from the south polar continent. Eventually Antarctica was
adopted as continental name in the 1890s after approximately 80 years nameless.
The name Antarctica comes from the Greek word of antarktikós, meaning "opposite to
the Arctic", "opposite to the north" maybe is not a very inspired name but at least it is a
name.
Historic Claims
The Antarctic Treaty puts aside the potential for conflict over sovereignty by providing
that nothing that occurs while the Treaty is in force will enhance or diminish territorial
claims. Treaty Parties cannot make any new claims while the Treaty is in force.
Among the original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty were the seven countries —
Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom —
with territorial claims to parts of Antarctica; some overlapping. Some Treaty Parties do
not recognize territorial claims and others maintain they reserve the right to make a
claim.
The Antarctic Treaty entered into force in 1961 and has since been acceded to by
many other nations. Through this agreement, the countries active in Antarctica meet
every year to discuss issues as diverse as scientific cooperation, measures to protect
the environment and operational issues. They are committed to taking decisions by
consensus, and have all made the commitment that Antarctica should not become the
scene or object of international discord.
Population
Several governments maintain permanent manned research stations on the continent.
The number of people conducting and supporting scientific research and other work on
the continent and its nearby islands varies from about 1,000 in winter to about 5,000 in
the summer.
Climate
The unique weather and climate of Antarctica provide the basis for its familiar
appellation the Home of the Blizzard and White Desert. By far the coldest continent,
Antarctica has winter temperatures that range from −89.2 °C, the world’s lowest
recorded temperature, measured at Vostok Station in 1983, on the high inland ice
sheet to −60 °C near sea level.
Animals
Antarctica has an abundance of animal life including the charismatic mega fauna that
you have seen pictures and videos of, though you may be surprised to find that they
live far more interesting and complex lives than you imagine. Almost all of these
animals are dependent on the sea, the largest truly land animal is a wingless midge
about 13mm long. As the animal life is dependent on the sea and are mainly warm
blooded, they tend to be pretty large as a survival technique against the extreme and
relentless cold. That Antarctica can support such an abundance of large animals is a
result of the productivity of the southern polar sea.
Birds
There are 46 species of birds in Antarctica, including Albatrosses, Shearwaters and
Petrels, Storm-Petrels, Diving petrels, Cormorants, Bitterns, Herons and Egrets, Ducks,
Geese and Swans, Sheathbills, Skuas and Jaegers, Gulls, Terns; these too have
waterproof feathers on top of downy insulating feathers. However, probably the best
known species is the penguin.
Penguins
The world's favorite awkward Antarctic creature, penguins mostly eat krill and very
small fish. They spend most of their time in the water, but usually come on land to mate
and raise their chicks.
Some species of penguins that live in the Antarctica are the Emperor Penguins, King
Penguins, Adelie Penguins, Chinstrap Penguins and the Gentoo Penguins.
Whales and Seals
There are four types of seals that live in the waters surrounding Antarctica: leopard,
crabeater, Weddell and southern elephant. All seals are fairly slow predators that hunt
by waiting in places their prey is likely to appear. Most of them are unlikely to pay
humans much mind at all - except for the leopard seal.
For the wales, during the summer, Antarctic waters are full of many different types of
whales looking to eat fish, squid, penguins and plankton. Killers whales are one of the
species travelers might be able to spot on their trip. 
Plants
About 298 million years ago Permian forests started to cover the continent, and tundra
vegetation survived as late as 15 million years ago, but the climate of present-day
Antarctica does not allow extensive vegetation to form. A combination of freezing
temperatures, poor soil quality, lack of moisture, and lack of sunlight inhibit plant
growth. As a result, the diversity of plant life is very low and limited in distribution.
Warm up
Over the past 50 years, the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the
most rapidly warming parts of the planet. This warming is not only restricted to the land
but can also be noted in the Southern Ocean. Upper ocean temperatures to the west of
the Antarctic Peninsula have increased over 1°C since 1955. It has now been
established that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is warming more rapidly than the
global ocean as a whole. Studying climate change in Antarctica is important because it
enables scientists to predict more accurately future climate change and provide
information to politicians and policy makers.
The warming of the Antarctic Peninsula is causing changes to the physical and living
environment of Antarctica. The distribution of penguin colonies has changed as the sea
ice conditions alter. Melting of perennial snow and ice covers has resulted in increased
colonization by plants. A long-term decline in the abundance of Antarctic krill in the SW
Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean may be associated with reduced sea ice cover.
Large changes have occurred in the ice cover of the Peninsula. Many glaciers have
retreated and ice shelves that formerly fringed the Peninsula have been observed to
retreat in recent years and some have collapsed completely.