By: Martin Harrell
Submitted: 2010-05-18 02:23:02 | Word Count: 719
An American?s exploration of Antarctica called attention to its remote and unknown nature. Estimations of the land mass of Antarctica are that it approaches 5,000,000 square miles, all underneath a continental ice sheet, which is the largest on Earth. According to some scientists, the ice sheet is 2000 feet thick. Other scientists argue it has to be much more thick. All of the continent is covered by the ice sheet, with the exception of the tallest mountain summits and certain coastal deposits of volcanic rock.
Heading to the ocean, the ice moves as a giant glacier between the mountains. The South Pole is located on the huge central plateau. It juts above the ocean from eight to ten thousand feet.
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Antarctica has been mapped into four distinct areas; these are named for geographical areas to the north. Therefore, there are the African, Pacific, American and sectors. The coastlines of both the African and the Pacific quadrants haven?t truly been explored. A very small area of the American quadrant coastline has been really investigated; the quadrant is far better known. It contains the Ross Sea sector.
Ross Sea serves as the eastern boundary of the quadrant, which spans west to Queen Mary Land to include South Victoria Land, King George V Land, Oates Land, Adelle Land and Wilkes Land. The western edge of the Ross Sea is a mountainous area, with the mountains emanating from an expansive sheet of shelf ice of approximately 160,000 square miles known as the Ross Barrier.
The barrier?s ice cliffs have formed a natural bay, called the Bay of Whales. The explorer chose to set up his base camp in this area, which is actually on the barrier. Ross Island is perched at the westernmost point of the barrier, and features a pair of volcanoes, Mount Erebus and Mount Terror. Crossing the Ross Sea to King Edward VII land, the barrier is over 400 miles long. At 400 miles in width, it stretches from the sea to the polar route mountains.
The barrier is a great example of shelf ice, which can only be seen in Antarctica. As glaciers descend the mountains and enter the Ross Sea area, the barrier was made. The largest glacier is over one hundred miles long of the many glaciers which reach down from the vast interior and discharge their ice into the Ross Sea. Scientists don?t know if the Barrier is floating in the water or sitting on the bottom.
The Pacific quadrant is edged by Ross Sea to the west. King Edward VII land is there, and sports spectacular rock outcroppings. First seeing the Alexandra Mountains and the Scott Nunataks, the first explorer made a long flight from the Bay of Whales to the Pacific Quadrant. This flight also allowed him to map out fourteen new mountain tops and an island. He saw land no one else had ever spotted. Subsequent flights would provide additional information regarding this sector and would possibly help geographers to create an accurate chart of the Pacific quadrant's coastline.
Several explorers have been interested in the sectors of Coats Land, Graham Land and Charcot Land, all part of the American quadrant in the Weddell Sea area. Determining that Graham Land is actually a separate island from Antarctica was the result of another flying explorer attempting to evaluate the entire continent over time. Continental division is the major geographical issue facing Antarctica today. The Weddell Sea in the American quadrant is across from the Ross Sea in the quadrant.
Scientific exploration is not limited in Antarctica. Maps of the complete coastal regions have yet to be finished, as well as the polar plateau and major mountain ranges.
There is a need for further examination of the glaciology of the Antarctic continent, the study of outcroppings of rock, and glacial moraines which are encased in the ice covered land which geologist are currently studying.
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