February 13, 1956 the first Soviet Antarctic station - "Mirny"... She was the beginning great history development by our country of the southern continent, continuing to this day. And today we will tell you about the seven most famous and important domestic stations in Antarctica.

The Mirny polar station was founded in Antarctica on the coast of the Davis Sea as part of the First Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1955-1957). It became the main base for our country's exploration of the continent, from where the management of all the other stations came.

The name "Mirny" is taken from the legendary sloop, one of the ships of the Bellingshausen and Lazarev expedition, which discovered Antarctica in January 1820. The second ship, Vostok, also gave the name to the Soviet and then Russian polar station.

In its best years, Mirny station was home to 150-200 polar explorers, but recently its team numbered 15-20 researchers. And the control function of all Russian bases in Antarctica was transferred to the more modern Progress station.

The Vostok-1 station was founded on May 18, 1957 in the interior regions of Antarctica, 620 kilometers from the Mirny base. But already on December 1, the facility was closed, and the equipment was transported even deeper into the continent, to the place that eventually became known as the Vostok station (its date of birth - December 16, 1957).

Vostok became the most famous Soviet and Russian Antarctic station thanks to the record low temperature recorded there in 1983 - minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. He was "beaten" only thirty years later - in December 2013 at the Japanese station "Dome Fuji", where a temperature mark of minus 91.2 degrees was noticed.

At the Vostok station, aero-meteorological, geophysical, glaciological and medical research has been and is being carried out; there they study the "ozone holes" and the properties of materials at low temperatures. And at a depth of three kilometers, it was under this station that the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica was discovered, which received the same name - Vostok.

The place where "Vostok" is located is one of the most severe from the weather point of view. The events of the heroic books by Vladimir Sanin "72 degrees below zero", "Newbie in Antarctica" and "Trapped" take place at the station. According to works in Soviet times popular feature films were shot.

Pole of Inaccessibility - the most distant station

The Pole of Inaccessibility station, which existed for a little less than two weeks in December 1958, went down in history for two reasons. Firstly, it is located at the point of the same name in Antarctica, the most distant from the coast of the continent. The opening of the facility in this place was the response of Soviet polar explorers to the appearance of the American base "Amundsen-Scott" at the South Pole.

Secondly, the Pole of Inaccessibility was decorated with a bust of Lenin, installed at the top of the pyramid that crowned the station building. This figure still rises above the icy plains of Antarctica, even when the structure itself is covered with snow.

Novolazarevskaya - polar station with a bath

Replacing the Lazarev station, which was closed in 1961, Novolazarevskaya thundered throughout Soviet Union which became a legendary event, when the doctor Leonid Rogozov performed a unique operation - he himself cut out the inflamed appendicitis.

"While you are here in a bath with tiles
You wash, bask, bask, -
He's in the cold with his own scalpel
There he cuts out the appendix. "- Vladimir Vysotsky sang about this human feat.

And in 2007 Novolazarevskaya again appeared on the front pages Russian newspapers and news sites. The first and still the only Russian bath in Antarctica was opened there!

Bellingshausen - polar station with a church

Bellingshausen is not just a Russian research station in the southern latitudes, it is the spiritual center of the Russian Antarctic. Indeed, on its territory there is the Church of the Holy Trinity, brought there disassembled from Russia in 2004.

Since Bellingshausen is located in close proximity to the Chilean, Uruguayan, Korean, Brazilian, Argentinean, Polish and Peruvian stations, the employees of the latter regularly attend services in the Russian church - there are no others nearby.

Youth - the former "capital" of Antarctica

For a long time, Molodezhnaya station was considered the capital of Soviet Antarctica. After all, it was the largest object of its kind. There were about seventy buildings lined up in streets at the base. There were not only residential complexes and research laboratories, but also a tank farm and even an airfield capable of receiving such large aircraft as the IL-76.

The station has been operating since 1962. Up to 150 people could live and work on it at the same time. But in 1999, the Russian flag was lowered, the once year-round base was first completely mothballed, and in 2006 it was transferred to a seasonal mode.

Progress is the center of the Russian presence in Antarctica

Now the main Russian polar station is Progress. It was opened in 1989 as a seasonal one, but over time it "increased" the infrastructure and became permanent. In 2013, Progress opened a new wintering complex with a gym and sauna, exercise equipment, modern hospital equipment, tennis and billiard tables, as well as living rooms, research laboratories and a galley.

Bonus

Academician Vernadsky is a British gift to Ukrainian polar explorers

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia declared its right to own all the former Soviet stations in Antarctica, denying Ukraine its desire to gain control of one of them. However, in 1996, the former union republic has its own base on the southern continent. Great Britain transferred its Faraday station to Kiev, which after the “change of citizenship” was named “Academician Vernadsky”.

In addition to scientific activities, Ukraine also conducts commercial activities at Akademik Vernadsky. This facility houses the only bar in Antarctica, where workers from nearby foreign stations gather for gatherings, as well as a souvenir shop (the Ukrainian base is one of the centers of polar tourism).

There is also a chapel of St. Prince Vladimir Equal to the Apostles - the southernmost religious building in the world (the Russian Church of the Holy Trinity is located just to the north).

Now even in Antarctica you can find churches and temples. Brave explorers of the icy continent also need support from above, perhaps even more than others. This overview presents the southernmost places of worship on Earth.

Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity.

There is also an Orthodox church in Antarctica - Russian Orthodox Church on Waterloo Island near the Russian polar station Bellingshausen. The temple was built in Russia, stood there for a year, and then was dismantled and transported to Antarctica. The temple was rebuilt on site in 2 months.

The temple can accommodate up to 30 people at a time, even a wedding ceremony was held here. The abbot of the temple is replaced every year, along with the rest of the researchers.

Church of the Snows.

Non-denominational Christian chapel, one of the southernmost temples in the world. It belongs to the American Antarctic Station McMurdo, located on Ross Island. Despite its location, it was destroyed by fire twice.

In winter, the church is attended by 200 parishioners, and in the summer, the parish grows to 1000 people.

The Church of the Snows strives to meet the needs of adherents of any religion. The Reverend Michael Smith even performed Buddhist and Bahai ceremonies.

Catholic chapel in an ice cave at Belgrano II station.

The southernmost church in the world is located in an ice cave on the Argentine polar station Belgrano II. Day and night here alternate with an interval of 4 months, and in the night sky you can observe the aurora borealis.

Church of St. Francis of Assisi.

The Esperanza Research Station, where the Church of St. Francis is located, is considered by the Argentines to be their most southern city, although more than a small village it does not pull. It is one of thirteen Argentinean settlements on the continent.

In addition to the church, there is also a permanent school, a museum, a bar and a hospital with a maternity ward, in which several Argentines were even born.

Chapel of St. Ivan of Rylsky on Livingstone Island.

Orthodox church built at the Bulgarian polar station, founded by four explorers in 1988.

Despite the asceticism, there is even a real bell, donated by the former Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria, who once worked as a doctor at the station.

Chilean chapel Santa Maria Reina de la Paz.

It is possibly the only church in the world built from shipping containers. Located in the largest civil settlement in Antarctica, Villa las Estrellas. Families of workers of the Chilean military base, to which the settlement belongs, live all year round. Up to 80 people stay here for the winter, 120 in the summer. There is also a school, a hostel, Postal office and the bank.

Chapel Blessed virgin Luhan.

The chapel is located at another Argentinean Antarctic station, Marambio. At the time of construction, there was the first airfield in Antarctica, and it is still used very often. Due to this, the station is called "the gateway to Antarctica".

Another church that deserves attention, but it is not located in Antarctica itself, but nearby, beyond the Antarctic Circle.

Church of the whalers.

This Norwegian Lutheran church was built in the whaling village of Grytviken, South Georgia in 1913.

The church was built by the sailors themselves, and it is the only structure in the village that is used for its original purpose. The whaling station itself was abandoned in 1966.

During the "heyday" of the station, up to 300 people lived and worked here at the same time.

The whale population around South Georgia declined relentlessly until the station was closed. To this day, in the vicinity of the village you can find animal bones, rusted remains of ships and factories for the processing of whale oil.

In Antarctica, there are many scientific polar stations and bases of various countries, where scientific (including biological, geographical, geological and meteorological) research is carried out.
According to the Antarctic Treaty, any country for scientific purposes has the right to establish its own station south of 60 ° south latitude.

Russian stations in Antarctica

Novolazarevskaya - Soviet, Russian Antarctic station. It was opened by Vladislav Gerbovich on January 18, 1961. The average annual air temperature in the station area is 11 ° C, minimum 41 ° C, maximum + 9.9 ° C. It conducts research in meteorology, geophysics, glaciology, oceanology.

Bellingshausen station

Bellingshausen is a Soviet, Russian Antarctic station on Waterloo Island (King George). Named after Thaddeus Bellingshausen. Founded by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition on February 22, 1968. 2009 - The wintering staff of the 54th expedition continues to work autonomously in Antarctica, 15 people, head of the station Kutsuruba A.I. At Progress station - planned hydrobiological studies in the water area of ​​Ardley Bay. Weather: wind up to 23 meters per second, air temperature from +3 C to - 10 C.

Vostok station

Vostok station is a former Soviet, and now - Russian-American-French Antarctic scientific station. It is the only inland Antarctic research station currently used by Russia. The unique research station "Vostok-1" was founded on December 16, 1957 by V. S. Sidorov, who later was several times the head of the station. 2009 - The wintering staff of the 54th expedition continues to work autonomously in Antarctica, 12 people, the head of the station Turkeev A.V. At Vostok station - planned work and observations. Weather: air temperature from -66 C to -74 C, wind 3-6 m per second.

Mirny station

Mirny is a Soviet, Russian Antarctic station located on the coast of the Davis Sea. The station was founded on February 13, 1956 by the 1st Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1955. This is the first Soviet Antarctic station. Mirny is the base for the leadership of the Antarctic expedition, from where all operating Russian Antarctic stations are controlled. Vladislav Gerbovich was a repeated head of the Mirny station. 2009 - The wintering staff of the 54th expedition continues to work autonomously in Antarctica, 32 people, the head of the station Bondarchuk V.A. At Mirny station - continuation of planned repair work to prepare the field equipment, sledge-caterpillar traverse. The vertical sounding of the ionosphere was resumed after the repair of the Bizon ionosonde. Weather: air temperature from -4 C to -25 C, wind up to 25 m per second.

Station Progress

Progress (Progress-2) is a Soviet, Russian Antarctic year-round station that was opened at the end of 1989 as a seasonal geological base. In 2000, the work was frozen, but since 2003 it has been resumed again. At Progress station, planned scientific and construction work. Weather: air temperature from -6 C to -22 C, wind up to 23 m per second. 2009 - The wintering staff of the 54th expedition continues to work autonomously in Antarctica 25 people, including 7 builders of the contracting organization, the head of the station A.V. Panfilov.

Antarctica

Antarctica- a continent located at the South Pole Globe opposite to the Arctic. Antarctica is washed by the waves of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Often not only the mainland itself is called Antarctica, but also the islands located in the immediate vicinity of it. The mainland was discovered by our compatriots: Bellingshausen and Lazarev. Before that, they spoke about Antarctica only in theoretical terms: someone assumed that it was part of South America, someone that part of Australia. Fate brought Bellingshausen and Lazarev together in 1819. The Naval Ministry planned an expedition to the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Two well-equipped ships had to make a difficult journey. One of them, the sloop Vostok, was commanded by Bellingshausen, and the other, which bore the name Mirny, was commanded by Lazarev. Many decades later, the first Soviet Antarctic stations will be named after these ships. On July 16, 1819, the expedition set sail. Its goal was formulated briefly: discoveries “in the possible proximity of the Antarctic Pole”. However, neither Bellingshausen nor Lazarev ever spoke about the discovery of the mainland. And the point here is not a feeling of false modesty: they understood that it was possible to draw final conclusions only by “stepping over the side of the ship,” conducting research on the shore. Neither the size, nor the outlines of the continent could be given even an approximate idea. This took many decades. Bellingshausen and Lazarev The first to set foot on the solid Antarctic land were Christensen (captain of a ship from Norway) and Carsten Borchgrevink (naturalist). In accordance with the 1959 convention, Antarctica does not belong to any of the individual states. Only scientific work is allowed on it.

Antarctica today

For more than ten years, scientists different countries conduct research on the sixth continent - Antarctica, conduct a persistent search, on general program, with a common purpose. These studies were started during the International Geophysical Year - IGY (1957-1959); dozens of countries have come together to fulfill an important scientific problem - the study of the Earth as a whole.
Twelve countries of the world: the Soviet Union, USA, England, France, Australia, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand, Norway, Belgium, Japan - sent their expeditions to the southern continent.
The IGY is over, and research has practically just begun - it became clear that studying Antarctica takes not a year, not five, but tens of years.
The work is directed and planned by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. So that between the countries studying Antarctica there would be no disputes about the rights to own the mainland, in 1959 they signed an agreement: all territorial claims in Antarctica were "frozen" for thirty years, the mainland was declared free for scientific research, you were forbidden to build military bases and conduct maneuvers.
The first decade has passed. Dozens of expeditions continuously monitored the weather, magnetic field, earthquakes, determined the height of the glacial plateau, the thickness of the ice, and the properties of the snow. Special instruments and cameras on the planes were filming the continent from the air.
Hundreds, thousands of articles, brochures and books have been written about the results of the expeditions.
To make research materials available to everyone scientists of the world, they are stored in international scientific centers- in Moscow and Washington. Scientists gather annually at conferences and meetings to discuss new data.
In 1966, the Atlas of Antarctica was published in the Soviet Union. This is a gigantic work of hundreds of scientists. The atlas contains various maps; they talk about height and contours
ice sheet, climate, temperature distribution patterns, wind speed and air pressure. Special geophysical maps display features magnetic field, acceleration of gravity, structure of the ionosphere over Antarctica. Geological maps allow us to judge the rocks and history of the formation of the continent in ancient times. There are historical maps, on them Antarctica - from its discovery by Bellingshausen and Lazarev to geographical discoveries our days.
And the map of the subglacial relief of Antarctica is quite unusual. The relief of other continents is easy to study, it is not hidden by a glacier, like Antarctica. Ice covers over 95% of the area here. The Antarctic ice sheet is a giant dome. Its height in the center is 4 thousand meters above sea level. The steepness of the slope near the coast is greater than in the interior. The glacier's profile resembles a mathematical curve - half an ellipse cut along the long axis. This is due to the property of ice - fluidity: ice slowly spreads from the center to the edges. And since snow constantly falls there, this process is continuous. The speed of ice movement is low - during the year from several centimeters in the center to 200-300 m at the edges. Mountain peaks "pierce" the ice only along the edge of the cover, where its height is no more than 2-2.5 thousand meters above sea level.

The Antarctic ice sheet has a semi-elliptical cross-section.

Why do not the mountains come to the surface in the center of Antarctica? Maybe they are not there at all? Maybe central
Are the areas a huge plain below sea level, like in Greenland?
So the question arose: is the mainland Antarctica? It was possible to answer it only by penetrating deep into the depths of the ice.
To the center of the continent on the ice dome moved sled-caterpillar trains. Powerful tractors, in the body-houses of which scientists lived and worked, dragged heavy sledges with loads. They were trapped by dangerous cracks in the glacier, hidden by snow bridges, blizzard and frost. The thin air of the highlands and the lack of oxygen choked not only people, but also the engines of cars.
Scientists have crossed the continent in different directions. They measured the thickness of the ice day after day. For each such measurement, it was necessary to drill wells, place instruments, and make explosions.
In this case, the method of seismic sounding was used: the wave from the explosion ran through the ice to the bottom - to the boundary with the rock - and, reflecting from it, returned to the surface. The instruments were measuring the time

The glaciation of Antarctica can be imagined as four huge spreading domes: three in the western part of the continent and one in the eastern. The East Antarctic dome is two, as it were, merged domes, and the rise between their centers is an ice divide.

spent by her on this run. The wave propagation speed was 3800 m / s. By multiplying the speed by time and dividing it in half, the thickness of the ice was obtained. Gravimetric measurements (accurate measurement of the acceleration of the force of gravity), together with the seismic method, made it possible to determine the thickness of the ice. Most recently, the expeditions of the USSR, the USA and England have applied a new method of sounding - radar: radio waves "shine through" the ice and are reflected from the border, where the ice touches the bedrock.
Scientists from different countries have covered more than 50 thousand km in total, determining the thickness of the ice at 10 thousand points. On the basis of all these measurements, a map of the subglacial relief of Antarctica was created for the first time (see color insert).
It turns out that an extremely complex relief is hidden under the ice sheet: both powerful mountain ranges with a height of more than 3 thousand meters above sea level, and vast plains, the ice thickness above which reaches 3-4 thousand meters.
The ridges, by right of discoverers, were named by Soviet scientists after the names of Russian academicians Gamburtsev, Vernadsky and Golitsyn. The plains were named Western, Eastern and Schmidt.
It became clear that Antarctica in the past, before the glaciation, was a large continent with mountains and valleys, rivers, lakes and inland seas. Ice (according to various sources, the ice sheet arose from 30 to 1 million years ago) hid almost the entire continent, with the exception of high mountains on the edge.
Twenty-five million cubic kilometers is the volume of ice that covers Antarctica today. If you melt it, the level of the World Ocean will rise by about 60 m.
And if the ice of Antarctica is evenly distributed over the rest of the continents, it will cover them with a layer of 170 m.
Studies have shown that under the enormous weight of ice, the earth's crust in Antarctica sank by an average of 500 m, and the subcrustal matter squeezed out along the edges of the continent, possibly causing the ocean floor or the marginal mountains to rise. If before the exploration of Antarctica the existence of the continent was questioned, now it is even measured.

Seismic gravimetric survey routes.

Seismic sounding scheme. A seismic explosion excites vibrations that reach the bedrock and, reflecting from it, return to the surface of the ice sheet. These vibrations are perceived and transmitted to the recording oscilloscope in the form of electrical impulses.

This is important for understanding movement. crust northern continents, which in the past were also subjected to powerful glaciation.
Research on the so-called ice sheet budget is no less important. How much snow and ice melt in Antarctica? If more snow falls than ice melts, then Antarctica grows, and if on the contrary, the glacier is shrinking, and then the ocean level may rise. After all, it is enough for the ocean to rise only a few tens of centimeters to cause people big trouble: protecting the coast from the onset of the sea, it will be necessary to build up dams and berths. Glaciological measurements have shown that the budget is more or less balanced.
Special observations were carried out in Antarctica over the temperature of the glacier. The wells drilled allowed the thermometers to be placed at depths of up to 350 m. The results were extraordinary. As a rule, the temperature of ice or land rises with depth, but in the well near Mirny, at first everything happened the other way around, and only at a depth of more than 100 m the temperature began to rise. What is this cold wave?
Calculations say that there can be two reasons: one is due to the fact that the ice moves from the center, cold regions, and does not have time to acquire the air temperature of the warmer, marginal parts of the cover, and since heating comes from above, the temperature in the thickness of the glacier drops with depth. ... Other possible reason lies in the fact that several hundred or thousand years ago the climate was colder, and at a depth of more than 100 m the temperature of those times was preserved.
Knowing the temperature at different depths, we can learn a lot about the climate. During the year the temperature changes: it is warmer in summer, colder in winter, even during one day it is unstable. At a depth of 15-20 m in dense snow, these fluctuations damp, and here a constant average annual temperature remains. Ice measurements at this depth show, for example, that the average annual temperature at Vostok station is minus 56 °; this coincides with the observations of meteorologists.
Vostok station is now considered the cold pole - here the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded (August 1958) -88.3 °. But the studies of glaciologists showed that the lowest temperature on Earth should have been at the point with coordinates 82с2 "south latitude, 69 ° 44" east longitude at an altitude of 4000 m above sea level. In the well drilled here, the average annual temperature is -60 °, and when the lowest temperature was recorded at Vostok station, in this place the air temperature reached 95-100 ° frost.
Although the cold pole is determined from meteorological data, it would be more fair to consider it the specified point discovered by glaciologists.
An interesting hypothesis about bottom melting. In the central part of Antarctica, where the ice thickness reaches 3500-4000 m, the glacier melts from below due to the heat coming from the earth's crust. From the edge, where the glacier is thinner, no melting occurs - the cold, penetrating into the bed of the glacier, freezes it to the rock. The hypothesis assumes that the resulting water either accumulates in the form of under-ice lens-like lakes, or, possibly, is squeezed out to the edge along valleys, such as, for example, the MGY Valley. These assumptions are the result of complex temperature readings in shallow wells. And recently it became known that the Americans in the area of ​​Byrd station drilled a glacier to a depth of 1700 m and found water gushing up the well. Now it will be possible to test the correctness of the hypothesis of bottom melting.
It was assumed that the oases discovered in Antarctica - ice-free areas of land - also owe their origin to heat fluxes from the earth's crust. However, the oases are no different from other regions in terms of the intensity of heat flows. In summer, Antarctica receives as much heat per unit area as in the tropics, because the sun shines for almost a full day, there is no cloudiness, the air is transparent, and, although the sun's rays fall here at a lower angle than in the tropics, they still heat up the dark rocks. ... The snow-white glacier reflects up to 90% sunlight... It is enough for a dark spot or stone to appear on the snow, as soon as melting begins around it and under it. Therefore, although there is a lot of snow in the oases in winter, it quickly melts in summer, forming lakes.
In addition to the ice sheet, Antarctica has huge ice shelves that are afloat. They arise from sea ​​ice or the rising edge of a continental glacier. Falling snow increases the thickness of these glaciers from above. From below they melt, eroded sea ​​water... But sometimes the opposite phenomenon is observed in ice shelves - they melt from above and freeze from below. In one such glacier, near the American station McMurdo, fish and algae thaw on the surface, which were frozen into the glacier from below several hundred years ago.

Antarctica ice mass budget diagram. Precipitation that falls on the surface turns into ice, which slowly spreads from the center to the edges. At the edges, the ice melts from the surface and here icebergs break off, floating away to the north. Under the influence of the heat flow from the bowels of the earth, bottom melting occurs. The resulting water is squeezed out to the edges or accumulates in the form of lenses in the thickness of the glacier.

This is how ice shelves are formed

For ten years, geologists have surveyed and mapped the structure of almost all the peaks that come to the surface. Although this is only a few percent of the area of ​​Antarctica, they nevertheless managed to restore it. geological history. Eastern Antarctica - platform. It originated in the Proterozoic era, as part of ancient continent Gondwana. In the Paleozoic, there were strong mountain-forming processes in West Antarctica, several times it fell below sea level. There are indications that there was glaciation in Antarctica during the Mesozoic era, which later disappeared. Once the mainland was covered with thermophilic tropical vegetation, which later turned into coal. Of course, Antarctica is very rich in minerals, and even in that small part of the continent that geologists explored, they found deposits of iron and polymetal ores, mica and coal, fluorite and rock crystal. Scientists believe that there must be diamonds in Antarctica.
The complete aseismicity of Antarctica is still a mystery. For all these years, not a single seismic station on the territory of Antarctica has registered a single even weak earthquake. This is surprising because West Antarctica is part of the Pacific ring of the seismically active zone.

- (RAE) continuously working expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic scientific research institute Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring environment Russia. The RAE is attended by winterers who spend in Antarctica ... ... Wikipedia

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Coordinates: 62 ° 12'59 ″ S NS. 58 ° 57′52 ″ W d. / 62.216389 ° S NS. 58.964444 ° W etc ... Wikipedia

No country in the world owns this continent, it has no government, president or king. And just 70 years ago, there was a fierce struggle among the world's leading powers for the possession of these lands. We are talking about the sixth continent - Antarctica, which has gone from "useless land for mankind" to "treasure box".

ANT-ARCTOS

The ancient Greeks were the first to speak about the mysterious southern land. Arctos - so they called the known to them icy land in the northern hemisphere and believed that there should be a similar land in the southern hemisphere, opposite the Arctic (literally Ant-Arctos) - Antarctica. This idea was actively supported by scientists of the Middle Ages. Since the 16th century, Ant-Arctos have been placed on maps in the area South Pole, and attempts to find this land were undertaken by the Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias, Fernand Magellan and the Dutchman Abel Tasman.

ATTEMPT TO COOK

The first serious attempt to find Antarctica was made by James Cook (with the support of the Royal Society of London). Scientific interest The expedition was associated with the study of the passage of Venus through the disk of the Sun, but the main goal was the search for Antarctica. In August 1768, a ship with the telling name "Attempt" ("Endeavor") sailed to the South.

Cook made three such expeditions, during which the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia were discovered, but Antarctica remained out of reach. At the mark of 71 degrees south latitude, the path of "Endeavor" was blocked by impassable ice, and after all, only 200 kilometers remained to the cherished goal! Nevertheless, for the first time in the history of the study of the southern polar latitudes, a person managed to go beyond the Arctic circle and dispel the myth of the existence of a huge Southern Earth, which medieval scientists mapped around the pole. In a book about his travels, Cook wrote:

"VOSTOK" AND "MIRNY"

V Russian Empire however, they did not think so. Outstanding navigators of that time - Ivan Kruzenshtern and Vasily Golovin - insisted on the need for a special expedition to the waters of Antarctica. It was thanks to the assistance of Ivan Kruzenshtern that a grandiose scientific expedition headed by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

On July 16, 1319, the wooden sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" left Kronstadt, and on January 28, 1820 they reached the icy continent. At the same time, two more expeditions were looking for Antarctica. American Nathaniel Palmer and British citizen Edward Bransfield, independently of each other, announced that they had seen the mainland. But Bellingshausen was the first, ten months before Palmer and just three days before Bransfield. The Russian expedition lasted 751 days, 100 thousand kilometers were covered, a new mainland and 29 adjacent islands were discovered, named after the 8 battles Patriotic War 1812 (later renamed by the British). In addition to geographical discoveries, a large number of important astronomical, oceanographic and synoptic observations.

CHUR. I AM THE FIRST!

After the expedition of Lazarev and Bellingshausen, a turmoil began around Antarctica, similar, according to a well-aimed comparison of one publicist, with "the hysteria of being late for the train."

The British, French, Americans, Norwegians all tried to get to the southern mainland. The first to set foot on the ice of Antarctica was the American John Davis in February 1821. The Norwegian Karsten Borchgrevink was the first to spend a successful winter in Antarctica (1899-1900), using dog sleds to move across the glaciers.

In 1911, the Antarctic race began between the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott for the right to be called the first person to reach the South Pole. The sad result of the unspoken confrontation: the primacy went to Amundsen, and Scott's expedition tragically died on way back from cold, hunger and physical exhaustion.

HOT SPOT

In the 20th century, Germany also became interested in Antarctica: from 1901 to 1939 she sent there as many as three expeditions, the last two on the eve of two world wars.

Of course, it was not only the Germans who "studied" Antarctica in those days. By January 1939, the Stalinist government declared an official protest to the governments of England, Norway, the USA and Japan in connection with the fact that their Antarctic expeditions

"... engaged in an unreasonable division into sectors of the land, once discovered by Russian researchers and navigators ...".

It is interesting that the Soviet Union immediately after the victory of 1945 won another, no less serious one - for Antarctica. After the end of the war, a special squadron of 14 warships was organized by the US government to study the nature of the southern continent. In response, the USSR sent the Slava whaling flotilla to Antarctica, which consisted of an impressive number of destroyers and submarines. After some time, the Americans urgently retreated and arrived to their native shores with great material and human losses, which is now almost not mentioned anywhere.

BOX WITH TREASURES

The unofficial beginning of research activities in Antarctica is considered to be the Borchgrevnik expedition, which overwintered in 1899 at Cape Ader.

Four years later, the Argentine scientific station "Orcadas" was created on the island of Lori, which has been operating without interruption to this day. The Australian station appeared a little later, in 1911, after which scientific activity on the mainland has subsided. Immediately after the end of World War II, the United States declared Antarctica a "treasure box", and research activity resumed on a new scale. In 1956, the first Soviet observatory and research base, the settlement of Mirny, was built. A year later, a unique research station "Vostok-1" appeared - the only inland Antarctic research station currently used by Russia. Nowadays, more than 70 scientific stations operate on the mainland, but only a little more than forty function all year round.

PLACE OF PEACE AND SCIENCE

After the International Geophysical Year (1957-1959), 65 countries sent their research expeditions to the Antarctic lands. The continent of ice itself was declared a place of peace and science. By coincidence, the convention on "general" Antarctica entered into force in 1961, when it was officially announced about the huge reserves of uranium (and also coal, gold, silver, lead, iron) in the bowels of Antarctica.

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent:

its area is about 14107000 km 2,

of which ice shelves - 930,000 km 2,

islands - 75,500 km 2.

Antarctica is divided into two parts - western and eastern. Western (6,475,000) includes an archipelago of mountainous islands. Eastern (7,700,000 km2) is a high ice-covered plateau. Both parts of the continent are separated by a mountain range.

• - the least explored continent;
• - the only continent without time zones: in winter it almost doubles when ice covers the surrounding seas;
• - is not a state, but has an unofficial currency - the Antarctic dollar. In 1996-2001 it was issued by the Antarctic Overseas Bank, founded by a group of enthusiasts. 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars could be easily exchanged for American currency at par, the proceeds were sent to financing scientific research in Antarctica;
• - the driest place on Earth: the average rainfall here is 10 cm per year.

In Antarctica there are:

• - more than 140 subglacial lakes, the largest of which is Lake Vostok;
• - points of the strongest and longest wind and the most powerful solar radiation;
• - volcanoes - the most active of them is Erebus;
• - more than 70 scientific stations, of which more than 40 are year-round;
• - the cleanest sea in the world - the Weddell Sea: it is transparent, almost like distilled water;
• - dry valleys that have not known rain and snow for 2 million years.

In Antarctica:

• - at the Russian Vostok station, the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded - minus 89.2 ° С;
• - the cleanest sky for space exploration;
• - minus 60-75 ° С in winter (June, July, August); minus 30-50 ° С in summer (December, January, February);
• - not so cold on the coast: in winter from -8 to -35 ° С, in summer - from 0 to +5 ° С;
• - over the years of research, about 200 thousand people have visited;
• - in 2007 the first passenger plane landed;
• - you can find two flowering plants - the colobant kito (a distant relative of the carnation) and the Antarctic meadow (from the Myatlikov family);
• - about 1000 people live in winter, from 4000 in summer;
• - in 1978 the first person was born - Argentinian Emilio Marcos Palma;
• - female researchers also work, most often during the summer months. A purely women's wintering was organized only once - in 1990-1991, at the German Antarctic station "Georg von Mayer". Six months after its start, the management sent male specialists to the station to bring the infrastructure facilities into normal technical condition.

THREE ANTARCTIDES

Something like this Antarctica looks like without its ice shell. True, today you can see this only with the help of geolocation and your own imagination.

But 150 million years ago, when the current "ice" was just heading towards the South Pole and was part of the supercontinent Gondwana, there were subtropics.

	ANTARCTIDA 500 MILLION YEARS AGO. Goidwana is formed from separate geological blocks, the East Antarctic Platform meets the Pacific Mobile Belt (it includes the modern Andes, Cordilleras, island arcs The Pacific, including the Antarctic Peninsula), at their junction there are the Transantarctic Mountains.
	ANTARCTIDA 200-80 MILLION YEARS AGO. Africa, Madagascar, India are consistently leaving Antarctica.
	ANTARCTIS 35 MILLION YEARS AGO Australia moves away, a cold southern circular current occurs, ice covers eastern Antarctica
	ANTARCTIDA 14 MILLION YEARS AGO. The last to leave South America, in memory of her, the Antarctic Andes remain on the ice continent - part of a once single mountain range, the Drake Passage is formed. ice covers West Antarctica,

Not everything is ice that is a glacier. The Antarctic ice sheet is a multi-layered cake. Top 100-150 meters - snow and firn (old granular snow). The real ice begins deeper. But it also differs in structure at different depths: from millimeter crystals in the upper layers to huge two-meter monocrystals at the base of the glacier.

The glacier is mobile. Under its own pressure, it flows from the central regions, where glaciation occurs, to the periphery of the continent. This is how floating ice shelves are formed, from which icebergs break off. The largest ice shelves in Antarctica (and in the world) are the Ross Glacier and the Weddell Glacier, which completely cover the seas of the same name.

The volume of the Antarctic glacier is 30 million km 3. This is 61% of all fresh water on the ground. If it melts, the sea level will rise 70 meters.

The ice sheet is a glacier with an area of ​​more than 50,000 km 2 and a thickness of more than 1,000 m. The area of ​​the Antarctic ice sheet is 14 million km 2, and its thickness ranges from 1.1 km in West Antarctica to 4.8 km in East Antarctica, on the Schmidt Plain.

The glacier covers 98% of the mainland, with the exception of a few open areas in the Transantarctic Mountains. Its topography does not match that of the land below it.

For millions of years, it literally pressed the mainland itself into the upper part of the earth's mantle. In West Antarctica, the basement of the glacier is 400-2500 meters below sea level.

TREATY ON ANTARCTICA

On June 23, 1961, the Antarctic Treaty entered into force. It was originally signed by 12 states. Today there are 46 of them. This treaty prohibits the advancement of new territorial claims to Antarctica. However, some states still have old ones; now, ironically, they are in a “frozen” state.

SCIENTIFIC STATIONS IN ANTARCTIDA
1. Esperanza (Argentina) 2. Marambio (Argentina) 3. Prat (Chile) 4. About Hitins (Chile) 5. Palier (USA) 6. Vernandsky (Ukraine) 7. San Martin (Argentina) 8. Rothera (UK) 9. Orcadas (Argentina) 11. SANAE IV (South Africa) 12. Maitri (India) 13. Novolazarevskaya (Russia) 14. Showa (Japan) 15. Youth (Russia)	16. Mawson (Australia) 17. Zhongshan (China) 18. Progress (Russia) 19. Davis (Australia) 20. Mirny (Russia) 21. Casey (Australia) 22. Dumont d "Urville (France) 23. McMurdo (USA) 24. Scott (Nosh Zshidiya) 25. Amundsen-Scott (USA) 26. Hagley (Great Britain) 27. Belgrano II (Argentina) 28. East (Russia) 29. Concordia (France-Italy)

In accordance with the international agreement, Antarctica can only be used for peaceful purposes, it is forbidden to place military objects here, to import here nuclear weapon or waste, seek and develop minerals. Only scientific stations can be located here - the permanent ones are marked with an icon on the map. 8 they are mostly scattered along the coast. Only three - in the interior of the mainland, where conditions are especially harsh: "East" (Russia), "Concordia" (France-Italy) and at the South Pole itself - "Amundsen-Scot" (USA).

Evidence of the resilience of the human spirit, capable of withstanding such harsh conditions of the southernmost continent of the planet, stations in Antarctica are literally and figuratively oases of heat on the endless icy expanses of the continent. Antarctica is being developed by 12 countries, and almost all of them have their own bases - seasonal or year-round. In addition to research work, Antarctic stations perform another, no less honorable and difficult task - receiving polar tourists. Whether it is as part of an Antarctic cruise or on the way to the South Pole, travelers have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the life of polar explorers, live in tent camps for several days and make exciting excursions through the nearby expanses of Antarctica.

The main attraction of "Union Glacier" is the amazingly beautiful runway that hosts the multi-ton "Eli".

Station "Amundsen - Scott"

Station "Amundsen - Scott" - the most famous station in Antarctica. Its popularity is due to one simple fact: the station is located exactly at the South Pole of the Earth, and upon arriving here, you actually perform two tasks - to stand at the pole, and to get acquainted with the polar way of life. In addition to the unique location "Amundsen - Scott" is also known for the fact that it is the first base in Antarctica, founded 45 years after Amundsen and Scott reached the South Pole of the planet. Among other things, the station is an example of high-tech construction in extremely difficult Antarctic conditions: there is room temperature inside, and jack piles allow the Amundsen-Scott to be lifted as it is covered with snow. Tourists are welcomed here: planes with travelers land at the local airfield in December - January. A tour of the station and the ability to send a letter home with the South Pole stamp - these are the main features of the base.

Station "Vostok"

Unique Russian station"Vostok", founded in 1957 among the virgin snow-white expanses of inner Antarctica, does not accept tourists, alas. The conditions for frivolous amusements here, frankly, are absent: about 1200 km to the pole, the highest temperature during the year is slightly less than -30 ° C, as well as a total lack of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air due to its location at an altitude of almost 3 km above sea level - these are just some of the details of her difficult life. However, the uniqueness of this place makes us talk about the station even outside the possibility of visiting it: it was here that the lowest temperature in Antarctica was recorded - minus 89.2 ° C. You can get to Vostok station only by volunteering at the Institute for Arctic and Antarctic Research - so for now let's dream ...

Union Glacier Station

Strictly speaking, Union Glacier is not a station, but a tent base, operating only in the warm season. Its main purpose is to serve as a home for tourists arriving in Antarctica with the help of an American company through the Chilean Punta Arenas. The main attraction of "Union Glacier" is the amazingly beautiful runway that hosts the multi-ton "Eli". It sits right on an impressive thickness blue ice, which does not even need to be leveled - its surface is so perfectly smooth. The logical name "Blue Ice" once again convinces you that you are in Antarctica - where else on the planet can an airplane just like that, easily land on the ice! Among other things, in "Union Glacier" tourists will find individual tents and utility modules, a dining room and toilets - by the way, the rules for using them invariably act as the main photo attraction of the station.