150-743: The Nimitz Glacier is an Antarctic glacier, 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) long and 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) wide, draining the area about 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) west of the Vinson Massif and flowing southeast between the Sentinel Range and Bastien Range to enter Minnesota Glacier , in the central Ellsworth Mountains . Discovered by USN Squadron VX-6 on photographic flights of 14–15 December 1959, and mapped by United States Geological Survey from these photos. Named by US-ACAN for Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz , USN, who as Chief of Naval Operations at
300-410: A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev . The decades that followed saw further exploration by French, American, and British expeditions. The first confirmed landing was by a Norwegian team in 1895. In the early 20th century, there were a few expeditions into the interior of the continent. British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were
450-406: A blizzard. On 9 January 1909, the table shows that the party travelled a further 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) to reach their farthest south, and the same distance back to camp. This distance in a single day far exceeded those for any other stage of the journey. Shackleton explained that this was a dash, "half running, half walking", unencumbered by the sledge or other equipment. Each of
600-635: A declaration stating that, "I am leaving the McMurdo base to you", and that he would seek to land further east, either at the Barrier Inlet visited briefly during the Discovery Expedition, or at King Edward VII Land . He would not touch the coast of Victoria Land at all. It was a capitulation to Scott and Wilson, and meant forfeiting the expedition's aim of reaching the South Magnetic Pole which
750-539: A faster ship. The entire complement came together in New Zealand, ready for the ship's departure to Antarctica on New Year's Day, 1908. As a means of conserving fuel, Shackleton had arranged with the New Zealand government for Nimrod to be towed to the Antarctic Circle , a distance of approximately 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km; 1,600 mi), the costs of the tow being met partly by the government and partly by
900-517: A few blue-ice areas , the wind and sublimation remove more snow than is accumulated by precipitation. In the dry valleys, the same effect occurs over a rock base, leading to a barren and desiccated landscape. Antarctica is colder than the Arctic region, as much of Antarctica is over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, where air temperatures are colder. The relative warmth of the Arctic Ocean
1050-574: A four-man team for the southern journey to the South Pole was largely determined by the number of surviving ponies. Influenced by his experiences on the Discovery Expedition, he had put his confidence in ponies rather than dogs for the long polar march. The motor car, which ran well on flat ice, could not cope with Barrier surfaces and was not considered for the polar journey. The men chosen by Shackleton to accompany him were Marshall, Adams and Wild. Joyce, whose Antarctic experience exceeded all save Wild's,
1200-449: A letter to Shackleton, Scott claimed priority rights to McMurdo Sound. "I feel I have a sort of right to my own field of work," he wrote, adding: "anyone who has had to do with exploration will regard this region primarily as mine". He concluded by reminding Shackleton of his duty of loyalty towards his former commander. Shackleton's initial reply was accommodating: "I would like to fall in with your views as far as possible without creating
1350-578: A man-hauling party; the dogs remained at base to be used for depot-laying and other routine work. The party had orders to plant the Union Jack at the Magnetic Pole and to take possession of Victoria Land for the British Empire . After several days' preparatory work, they started out on 5 October 1908, drawn for the first few miles by the motor car. Due to sea ice conditions and adverse weather, progress
1500-511: A mild climate. West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere , and during the time, large amounts of sandstones , limestones , and shales were deposited. East Antarctica was at the equator, where seafloor invertebrates and trilobites flourished in the tropical seas. By the start of the Devonian period (416 Ma ), Gondwana was in more southern latitudes, and the climate
1650-457: A native bacterial community within the subterranean water body of Lake Vostok . The existence of life there is thought to strengthen the argument for the possibility of life on Jupiter 's moon Europa , which may have water beneath its water-ice crust. There exists a community of extremophile bacteria in the highly alkaline waters of Lake Untersee . The prevalence of highly resilient creatures in such inhospitable areas could further bolster
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#17328633675801800-665: A number of mountain ranges in the region, the most prominent being the Ellsworth Mountains. The presence of the West Antarctic Rift System has resulted in volcanism along the border between West and East Antarctica, as well as the creation of the Transantarctic Mountains. East Antarctica is geologically varied. Its formation began during the Archean Eon (4,000 Ma–2,500 Ma), and stopped during
1950-629: A part of it". Nimrod Expedition The Nimrod Expedition of 1907–1909, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition , was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton and his second time to the Continent. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to reach the South Pole . This was not attained, but
2100-419: A personal stigma, and on his return to England he was determined to prove himself, in the words of Discovery's second-in command Albert Armitage , as "a better man than Scott". He nevertheless declined the opportunity of a swift Antarctic return as chief officer of Discovery ' s second relief ship Terra Nova , after helping to fit her out; he also helped to equip Uruguay , the ship being prepared for
2250-611: A place on the expedition. A last-minute gift of £4,000 from Shackleton's cousin William Bell still left the expedition far short of the required £30,000, but enabled Nimrod ' s refit to be finished. Fundraising continued in Australia after the ship arrived there; a further £5,000 was provided as a gift from the Australian government, and the New Zealand government gave £1,000. By these means, and with other smaller loans and donations,
2400-423: A position that would be untenable to myself". Wilson, asked by Shackleton to mediate, took an even tougher line than Scott. "I think you should retire from McMurdo Sound", he wrote, advising Shackleton not to make any plans to work from anywhere in the entire Ross Sea quarter until Scott decided "what limits he puts on his own rights". To this Shackleton replied: "There is no doubt in my mind that his rights end at
2550-574: A rather reluctant Captain Scott. As to the latitude claimed, the reason for doubting its accuracy was that after 3 January all positions had been computed by dead reckoning : on direction, speed and elapsed time. The last proper observation, on 3 January, had calculated the latitude as 87° 22'. Shackleton's table of distances show that over the next three days they covered just over 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi), to reach an estimated 88° 7' on 6 January. They were then held up for two days by
2700-491: A replacement captain for the return voyage next year. This knowledge was an open secret among the shore party; Marshall recorded in his diary that he was "glad to see the last of [England] ... whole thing damned disgrace to name of country!" After Nimrod ' s departure, the sea ice broke up, cutting off the party's route to the Barrier and thus making preparatory sledging and depot-laying impossible. Shackleton decided to give
2850-406: A slow start due to a combination of poor weather and lameness in the horses, Shackleton reduced the daily food allowance to extend the total available journey time to 110 days. This required a shorter daily average of around 13½ nautical miles. Between 9 and 21 November they made good progress, but the ponies suffered on the difficult Barrier surface, and the first of the four had to be shot when
3000-418: A support group, the ascent began on 5 March. On 7 March the two groups combined at around 5,500 feet (1,700 m) and all advanced towards the summit. On the following day a blizzard held them up, but early on 9 March the climb resumed; later that day the summit of the lower, main crater, was achieved. By this time Brocklehurst's feet were too frostbitten for him to continue, so he was left in camp while
3150-674: A £7,000 loan guarantee (updated value £940,000). With this in hand, Shackleton felt confident enough to announce his intentions to the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) on 12 February 1907. One reason for Shackleton's sense of urgency was the knowledge that the Polish explorer Henryk Arctowski was planning an expedition, which was announced at the RGS on the same day as Shackleton's. In the event, Arctowski's plans were stillborn. Shackleton's original unpublished plan envisaged basing himself at
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#17328633675803300-515: Is Earth 's southernmost and least-populated continent . Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean ), it contains the geographic South Pole . Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe , and has an area of 14,200,000 km (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica
3450-631: Is 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in). From the end of the Neoproterozoic era to the Cretaceous , Antarctica was part of the supercontinent Gondwana . Modern Antarctica was formed as Gondwana gradually broke apart beginning around 183 Ma. For a large proportion of the Phanerozoic , Antarctica had a tropical or temperate climate , and it was covered in forests. During the Cambrian period , Gondwana had
3600-533: Is almost 18,000 km (11,200 mi) long: as of 1983 , of the four coastal types, 44% of the coast is floating ice in the form of an ice shelf , 38% consists of ice walls that rest on rock, 13% is ice streams or the edge of glaciers, and the remaining 5% is exposed rock. The lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet occur mainly in the McMurdo Dry Valleys or various oases . Lake Vostok , discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station ,
3750-471: Is being revealed by techniques such as remote sensing , ground-penetrating radar , and satellite imagery . Geologically, West Antarctica closely resembles the South American Andes . The Antarctic Peninsula was formed by geologic uplift and the transformation of sea bed sediments into metamorphic rocks . West Antarctica was formed by the merging of several continental plates , which created
3900-449: Is caused by the emission of chlorofluorocarbons and halons into the atmosphere, which causes ozone to break down into other gases. The extreme cold conditions of Antarctica allow polar stratospheric clouds to form. The clouds act as catalysts for chemical reactions, which eventually lead to the destruction of ozone. The 1987 Montreal Protocol has restricted the emissions of ozone-depleting substances. The ozone hole above Antarctica
4050-578: Is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi). 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 200 mm (8 in) 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 60 metres (200 ft). Antarctica holds
4200-631: Is divided into West Antarctica and East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains , which stretch from Victoria Land to the Ross Sea . The vast majority of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , which averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi) in thickness. The ice sheet extends to all but a few oases , which, with the exception of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, are located in coastal areas. Several Antarctic ice streams flow to one of
4350-463: Is evidence of a large number of volcanoes under the ice, which could pose a risk to the ice sheet if activity levels were to rise. The ice dome known as Dome Argus in East Antarctica is the highest Antarctic ice feature, at 4,091 metres (13,422 ft). It is one of the world's coldest and driest places—temperatures there may reach as low as −90 °C (−130 °F), and the annual precipitation
4500-408: Is expected to add about 11 cm (5 in) to global sea level rise . Marine ice sheet instability may cause West Antarctica to contribute tens of centimeters more if it is triggered before 2100. With higher warming, instability would be much more likely, and could double global, 21st-century sea-level rise. The fresh, 1100-1500 billion tons (GT) per year of meltwater from the ice dilutes
4650-516: Is predicted to slowly disappear; by the 2060s, levels of ozone are expected to have returned to values last recorded in the 1980s. The ozone depletion can cause a cooling of around 6 °C (11 °F) in the stratosphere . The cooling strengthens the polar vortex and so prevents the outflow of the cold air near the South Pole, which in turn cools the continental mass of the East Antarctic ice sheet. The peripheral areas of Antarctica, especially
Nimitz Glacier - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-441: Is the largest subglacial lake globally and one of the largest lakes in the world. It was once believed that the lake had been sealed off for millions of years, but scientists now estimate its water is replaced by the slow melting and freezing of ice caps every 13,000 years. During the summer, the ice at the edges of the lakes can melt, and liquid moats temporarily form. Antarctica has both saline and freshwater lakes. Antarctica
4950-500: Is transferred through the Arctic sea ice and moderates temperatures in the Arctic region. East Antarctica is colder than its western counterpart because of its higher elevation. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, leaving the centre cold and dry, with moderate wind speeds. Heavy snowfalls are common on the coastal portion of Antarctica, where snowfalls of up to 1.22 m (48 in) in 48 hours have been recorded. At
5100-472: The Antarctic Circle (one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the world), Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean . Rivers exist in Antarctica; the longest is the Onyx . Antarctica covers more than 14.2 million km (5,500,000 sq mi), almost double the area of Australia, making it the fifth-largest continent, and comparable to the surface area of Pluto . Its coastline
5250-641: The Beardmore Glacier by Frank Wild on the Nimrod Expedition in 1907, and low-grade coal is known to exist across many parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The Prince Charles Mountains contain deposits of iron ore . There are oil and natural gas fields in the Ross Sea. Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest of Earth's continents. Near the coast, the temperature can exceed 10 °C in summer and fall to below −40 °C in winter. Over
5400-622: The Cretaceous period (146–66 Ma), though southern beech trees ( Nothofagus ) became prominent towards the end of the Cretaceous. Ammonites were common in the seas around Antarctica, and dinosaurs were also present, though only a few Antarctic dinosaur genera ( Cryolophosaurus and Glacialisaurus , from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains, and Antarctopelta , Trinisaura , Morrosaurus and Imperobator from Late Cretaceous of
5550-485: The Discovery base at Hut Point was blocked by frozen sea. Shackleton decided to wait a few days in the hope that the ice would break up. During this delay, second officer Aeneas Mackintosh suffered an accident that led to the loss of his right eye. After emergency surgery by Marshall and Mackay, he was forced to relinquish his shore party place and go back to New Zealand with Nimrod . He recovered sufficiently to return with
5700-483: The Discovery officers had all committed themselves to Scott and his as-yet unannounced expedition plans. The only Discovery hands to join Shackleton were the two petty officers , Frank Wild and Ernest Joyce . Apparently Shackleton spotted Joyce on the top deck of a bus as it passed the expedition's London offices, whereupon someone was sent to find him and bring him in. Shackleton's second-in-command—although this
5850-662: The Early Triassic . The Antarctic Peninsula began to form during the Jurassic period ( 206 to 146 million years ago ). Africa separated from Antarctica in the Jurassic around 160 Ma, followed by the Indian subcontinent in the early Cretaceous (about 125 Ma). Ginkgo trees, conifers, Bennettitales , horsetails , ferns and cycads were plentiful during the time. In West Antarctica, coniferous forests dominated throughout
6000-523: The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was by then assured. Other members of the Nimrod Expedition also achieved fame and standing in future years. David, Adams, Mawson and Priestley all eventually received knighthoods, the latter two continuing their polar work on further expeditions, though neither went south again with Shackleton. Mawson led the 1911–13 Australian Antarctic Expedition , and Priestley
6150-566: The Norfolk coast on 31 January 1919. Only two of her 12-person crew survived. Several mostly intact cases of whisky and brandy left behind at Cape Royds in 1909 were recovered in 2010, for analysis by a distilling company. A revival of the vintage (and since lost) formula for the particular brands found has been offered for sale with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust , which discovered
Nimitz Glacier - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-519: The Northern Hemisphere , an eventual decline of fisheries in the Southern Ocean and a potential collapse of certain marine ecosystems . While many Antarctic species remain undiscovered, there are documented increases in Antarctic flora , and large fauna such as penguins are already having difficulty retaining suitable habitat. On ice-free land, permafrost thaws release greenhouse gases and formerly frozen pollution. Scientists have studied
6450-527: The Royal Geographical Society 's (RGS) initial scepticism about his achievements and received many public honours, including a knighthood from King Edward VII . He made little financial gain from the expedition and eventually depended on a government grant to cover its liabilities. Within three years his southernmost record had been surpassed, as first Amundsen and then Scott reached the South Pole. In his own moment of triumph, Amundsen nevertheless observed: "Sir Ernest Shackleton's name will always be written in
6600-596: The Union Steam Ship Company as a contribution to the expedition. On 14 January, in sight of the first icebergs , the towline was cut; Nimrod , under her own power, proceeded southward into the floating pack ice , heading for the Barrier Inlet where six years earlier Discovery had paused to allow Scott and Shackleton to take experimental balloon flights. The Barrier (later known as the Ross Ice Shelf )
6750-420: The crust-like lichen Buellia frigida , has been used as a model organism in astrobiology research. The same features can be observed in algae and cyanobacteria , suggesting that they are adaptations to the conditions prevailing in Antarctica. This has led to speculation that life on Mars might have been similar to Antarctic fungi, such as Cryomyces antarcticus and Cryomyces minteri . Some of
6900-523: The ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica since the 1970s. In 1985, British scientists, working on data they had gathered at Halley Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf , discovered a large area of low ozone concentration over Antarctica. The 'ozone hole' covers almost the whole continent and was at its largest in September 2006; the longest-lasting event occurred in 2020. The depletion
7050-529: The "hardest day we have had". On the next day he noted that, having attained 87° 6½′ S, they had beaten North and South polar records. That day, referring to Marshall and Adams, Wild wrote: "if we only had Joyce and Marston here instead of those two grubscoffing useless beggars we would have done it [the Pole] easily." On 4 January 1909, Shackleton finally accepted that the Pole was beyond them and revised his goal to
7200-401: The 1 March deadline. The final leg of their march was interrupted by a blizzard, which held them in camp for 24 hours. On 27 February, when they were still 33 nautical miles (61 km; 38 mi) from safety, Marshall collapsed. Shackleton then decided that he and Wild would make a dash for Hut Point in hopes of finding Nimrod and holding her until the other two could be rescued. They reached
7350-435: The 1907 summer. He therefore had six months to secure the financing, acquire and fit out a ship, buy all the equipment and supplies, and recruit the personnel. In April, believing that he had got the backing of Scottish businessman Donald Steuart, Shackleton travelled to Norway intending to buy a 700-ton polar vessel, Bjorn , that would have served ideally as an expedition ship. When Steuart withdrew his support, however, Bjorn
7500-422: The 23rd they reached Bluff Depot, which to their great relief had been copiously resupplied by Joyce. The range of delicacies over and above the crates of regular supplies was listed by Shackleton: " Carlsbad plums, eggs, cakes, plum pudding, gingerbread and crystallised fruit". Wild's laconic comment was, "Good old Joyce". Their food worries were now resolved, but they still had to get back to Hut Point before
7650-614: The Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773, in December 1773, and again in January 1774. Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. In 1775, he called the existence of a polar continent "probable", and in another copy of his journal he wrote: "[I] firmly believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen
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#17328633675807800-759: The Antarctic Peninsula) have been described. During the early Paleogene , Antarctica remained connected to South America as well as to southeastern Australia. Fauna from the La Meseta Formation in the Antarctic Peninsula, dating to the Eocene , is very similar to equivalent South American faunas; with marsupials , xenarthrans , litoptern , and astrapotherian ungulates , as well as gondwanatheres and possibly meridiolestidans . Marsupials are thought to have dispersed into Australia via Antarctica by
7950-423: The Antarctic Peninsula, are then subjected to higher temperatures, which accelerate the melting of the ice. Models suggest that ozone depletion and the enhanced polar vortex effect may also account for the period of increasing sea ice extent, lasting from when observation started in the late 1970s until 2014. Since then, the coverage of Antarctic sea ice has decreased rapidly. Most species in Antarctica seem to be
8100-516: The Antarctic Peninsula: Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hair grass), Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort) and the non-native Poa annua (annual bluegrass). Of the 700 species of algae in Antarctica, around half are marine phytoplankton . Multicoloured snow algae are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer. Even sea ice can harbour unique ecological communities, as it expels all salt from
8250-475: The Antarctic before, although ponies had been used by Frederick George Jackson during the Jackson–Harmsworth Arctic expedition of 1894–1897. Despite Jackson's confused reports of his ponies' prowess, and contrary to specific advice from Fridtjof Nansen , the renowned Norwegian polar traveller, Shackleton decided he would take 15 ponies, later scaled down to 10. By the time he announced his plans to
8400-456: The Barrier surface became increasingly disturbed and broken; two more ponies succumbed to the strain. The mountains to the west curved round to block their path southward, and the party's attention was caught by a "brilliant gleam of light" in the sky ahead. The reason for this phenomenon became clear on 3 December when, after a climb through the foothills of the mountain chain, they saw before them what Shackleton later described as "an open road to
8550-535: The Barrier, but by 4 March the whole southern party was aboard and Shackleton was able to order full steam towards the north. While preparing for his southern journey, Shackleton gave instructions to David to lead a northern party to Victoria Land to carry out magnetic and geological work. The party was to try to reach the Magnetic Pole, and was to carry out a full geological survey in the Dry Valley area. David's party consisted of himself, Mawson and Mackay. It would be
8700-646: The Cambrian Period. It is built on a craton of rock, which is the basis of the Precambrian Shield . On top of the base are coal and sandstones, limestones, and shales that were laid down during the Devonian and Jurassic periods to form the Transantarctic Mountains. In coastal areas such as the Shackleton Range and Victoria Land, some faulting has occurred. Coal was first recorded in Antarctica near
8850-567: The Discovery , published in 1905, reopened the wounds to Shackleton's pride. It became a personal mission that he should return to the Antarctic and outperform Scott. Shackleton began looking for potential backers for an expedition of his own; his initial plans appear in an unpublished document dated early 1906. These include a cost estimate of £17,000 (updated value £2,270,000) for the entire expedition. He received his first promise of financial backing when early in 1907 his employer, Beardmore, offered
9000-644: The Magnetic Pole's approximate location. Before then, David had a narrow escape after falling into a crevasse but was rescued by Mawson. Their way up to the inland plateau was via a labyrinthine glacier (later named the Reeves Glacier after the RGS's main map curator), which brought them on 27 December to a hard snow surface. This enabled them to move more swiftly, at a rate of about 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) daily, taking regular magnetic observations. On 16 January, these observations showed them to be about 13 nautical miles (24 km; 15 mi) from
9150-763: The Magnetic Pole. The next day, 17 January 1909, they reached their goal, fixing the pole's position as 72° 15' S, 155° 16' E, at an elevation of 7,260 feet (2,210 m). In a muted ceremony, David took formal possession of the area for the British Empire. Exhausted, and short of food, the party faced a return journey of 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi), with just 15 days to complete it if they were to make their prearranged coastal rendezvous with Nimrod . Despite increasing physical weakness they maintained their daily distances, and on 31 January were 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) from their agreed pick-up point. Bad weather delayed them, and
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#17328633675809300-401: The Pole and back with this amount of food. However, Shackleton was not yet prepared to admit that the Pole was beyond them and decided to go forward after cutting food rations further, and dumping all but the most essential equipment. On Boxing Day the glacier ascent was at last completed, and the march on the polar plateau began. Conditions did not ease; Shackleton recorded 31 December as
9450-411: The Pole was "like following an old woman. Always panicking". However, Christmas Day was celebrated with crème de menthe and cigars. Their position was 85° 51' S, still 249 nautical miles (461 km; 287 mi) from the Pole, and they were now carrying barely a month's supply of food, having stored the rest in depots for their return journey. They could not cover the remaining distance to
9600-571: The RGS in February 1907 Shackleton had revised his cost estimate to a more realistic £30,000 (updated value £4,010,000). However, the response of the RGS to Shackleton's proposals was muted; Shackleton would learn later that the Society was by this time aware of Scott's wish to lead a new expedition and that the Society wished to reserve its full approval for Scott. Shackleton intended to arrive in Antarctica in January 1908, which meant leaving England during
9750-459: The South Pole and the South Magnetic Pole. By making his base in McMurdo Sound, Shackleton had been able to reinstate the Magnetic Pole as an expedition objective. Shackleton himself would be leading the South Pole journey, which had suffered a serious setback during the winter when four of the remaining ponies died, mainly from eating volcanic sand for its salt content. Shackleton's choice of
9900-584: The South Pole on 15 December 1911. For his trail-breaking achievements, Shackleton received a fulsome tribute from Amundsen: "What Nansen is to the North, Shackleton is to the South". Thereafter, Shackleton's Antarctic ambitions were fixed on a transcontinental crossing, which he attempted unsuccessfully with the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917, although his status as a leading figure in
10050-569: The South Pole the romanised Greek name polus antarcticus , from which derived the Old French pole antartike (modern pôle antarctique ) attested in 1270, and from there the Middle English pol antartik , found first in a treatise written by the English author Geoffrey Chaucer . Belief by Europeans in the existence of a Terra Australis —a vast continent in the far south of
10200-579: The West Antarctic, the ocean has warmed by 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1955. The warming of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has caused the weakening or collapse of ice shelves , which float just offshore of glaciers and stabilize them. Many coastal glaciers have been losing mass and retreating, causing net-annual ice loss across Antarctica, although the East Antarctic ice sheet continues to gain ice inland. By 2100, net ice loss from Antarctica
10350-446: The acclamation and unstinting praise that Shackleton received from the exploring community, including Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen , the response of the RGS was more guarded. Its former president, Sir Clements Markham , privately expressed his disbelief of Shackleton's claimed latitude. However, on 14 June, Shackleton was met at London's Charing Cross Station by a very large crowd, which included RGS president Leonard Darwin and
10500-462: The annals of Antarctic exploration in letters of fire". Ernest Shackleton had been a junior officer on Robert Falcon Scott 's first Antarctic expedition aboard RRS Discovery . He had been sent home on the relief ship Morning in 1903 after a physical collapse during the expedition's main southern journey. Scott's verdict was that he "ought not to risk further hardships in his present state of health". Shackleton felt this physical failure as
10650-603: The anticipated riches, although the post office was set up at Cape Royds and used as a conduit for the expedition's mail. Shackleton hoped to recruit a strong contingent from the Discovery Expedition and offered his former comrade Edward Adrian Wilson the post of chief scientist and second-in-command. Wilson refused, citing his work with the Board of Agriculture 's Committee on the Investigation of Grouse Disease. Further refusals followed from former Discovery colleagues Michael Barne , Reginald Skelton and finally George Mulock , who inadvertently revealed to Shackleton that
10800-628: The argument for extraterrestrial life in cold, methane -rich environments. The first international agreement to protect Antarctica's biodiversity was adopted in 1964. The overfishing of krill (an animal that plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem) led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources , an international treaty that came into force in 1980, regulates fisheries, aiming to preserve ecological relationships. Despite these regulations, illegal fishing —particularly of
10950-480: The base he asked for [...] I consider I have reached my limit and I go no further". The matter was unresolved when Scott returned from sea duty in May 1907. Scott pressed for a line of demarcation at 170° W—everything to the west of that line, including McMurdo Sound, Ross Island , and Victoria Land , would be Scott's preserve. Shackleton, with other concerns pressing on him, felt obliged to concede. On 17 May he signed
11100-416: The biodiversity in Antarctica is still at risk from human activities. Specially protected areas cover less than 2% of the area and provide better protection for animals with popular appeal than for less visible animals. There are more terrestrial protected areas than marine protected areas . Ecosystems are impacted by local and global threats, notably pollution , the invasion of non-native species , and
11250-476: The captain. At one point, Shackleton asked England to stand down on the grounds that he was ill, but England refused. The task of unloading became, in Riffenburgh's description, "mind-numbingly difficult" but was finally completed on 22 February. Nimrod at last sailed away north, England unaware that ship's engineer Harry Dunlop was carrying a letter from Shackleton to the expedition's New Zealand agent, requesting
11400-572: The climate cooled, though flora remained. After deglaciation during the latter half of the Early Permian , the land became dominated by glossopterids (an extinct group of seed plants with no close living relatives), most prominently Glossopteris , a tree interpreted as growing in waterlogged soils, which formed extensive coal deposits. Other plants found in Antarctica during the Permian include Cordaitales , sphenopsids , ferns, and lycophytes . At
11550-514: The colonial authorities in Sydney officially renamed the continent of New Holland to Australia, leaving the term "Terra Australis" unavailable as a reference to Antarctica. Over the following decades, geographers used phrases such as "the Antarctic Continent". They searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting names such as Ultima and Antipodea . Antarctica was adopted in the 1890s, with
11700-497: The continent as a World Park . The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established in 1994 by the International Whaling Commission . It covers 50 million km (19 million sq mi) and completely surrounds the Antarctic continent. All commercial whaling is banned in the zone, though Japan has continued to hunt whales in the area, ostensibly for research purposes. Despite these protections,
11850-599: The continent's edge, strong katabatic winds off of the polar plateau often blow at storm force . During the summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at the South Pole than at the equator because of the 24 hours of sunlight received there each day. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities occurs everywhere on Earth, and while Antarctica is less vulnerable to it than any other continent, climate change in Antarctica has been observed. Since 1959, there has been an average temperature increase of >0.05 °C/decade since 1957 across
12000-496: The continent, although it had been uneven. West Antarctica warmed by over 0.1 °C/decade from the 1950s to the 2000s, and the exposed Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 3 °C (5.4 °F) since the mid-20th century. The colder, stabler East Antarctica had been experiencing cooling until the 2000s. Around Antarctica, the Southern Ocean has absorbed more oceanic heat than any other ocean, and has seen strong warming at depths below 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Around
12150-402: The creation of small yet permanent polar ice caps. As CO 2 levels declined further the ice began to spread rapidly, replacing the forests that until then had covered Antarctica. Tundra ecosystems continued to exist on Antarctica until around 14-10 million years ago, when further cooling lead to their extermination. The geology of Antarctica, largely obscured by the continental ice sheet,
12300-549: The descendants of species that lived there millions of years ago. As such, they must have survived multiple glacial cycles . The species survived the periods of extremely cold climate in isolated warmer areas , such as those with geothermal heat or areas that remained ice-free throughout the colder climate. Invertebrate life of Antarctica includes species of microscopic mites such as Alaskozetes antarcticus , lice , nematodes , tardigrades , rotifers , krill and springtails . The few terrestrial invertebrates are limited to
12450-562: The early Eocene. Around 53 Ma, Australia- New Guinea separated from Antarctica, opening the Tasmanian Passage . The Drake Passage opened between Antarctica and South America around 30 Ma, resulting in the creation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that completely isolated the continent. Models of Antarctic geography suggest that this current, as well as a feedback loop caused by lowering CO 2 levels, caused
12600-479: The elevated inland, it can rise to about −30 °C in summer but fall below −80 °C in winter. The lowest natural air temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. A lower air temperature of −94.7 °C (−138.5 °F) was recorded in 2010 by satellite—however, it may have been influenced by ground temperatures and
12750-553: The end of that period. During the colder Neogene (17–2.5 Ma), a tundra ecosystem replaced the rainforests. The climate of present-day Antarctica does not allow extensive vegetation to form. A combination of freezing temperatures, poor soil quality , and a lack of moisture and sunlight inhibit plant growth, causing low species diversity and limited distribution. The flora largely consists of bryophytes (25 species of liverworts and 100 species of mosses ). There are three species of flowering plants , all of which are found in
12900-571: The end of the Permian, the climate became drier and hotter over much of Gondwana, and the glossopterid forest ecosystems collapsed, as part of the End-Permian mass extinction . There is no evidence of any tetrapods having lived in Antarctica during the Paleozoic. The continued warming dried out much of Gondwana. During the Triassic, Antarctica was dominated by seed ferns (pteridosperms) belonging to
13050-516: The expedition also achieved the first ascent of Mount Erebus , Antarctica's second highest volcano. The expedition lacked governmental or institutional support, and relied on private loans and individual contributions. It was beset by financial problems and its preparations were hurried. Its ship, Nimrod , was less than half of the size of Robert Falcon Scott 's 1901–1904 expedition ship Discovery , and Shackleton's crew lacked relevant experience. Controversy arose from Shackleton's decision to base
13200-523: The expedition impetus by ordering an immediate attempt to ascend Mount Erebus . This mountain, 12,450 feet (3,790 m) high, had never been climbed. A party from Discovery (which had included Wild and Joyce) had explored the foothills in 1904 but had not ascended higher than 3,000 feet (910 m). Neither Wild nor Joyce was in the Nimrod Expedition's main Erebus party, which consisted of David, Mawson and Mackay. With Marshall, Adams and Brocklehurst forming
13350-827: The expedition in McMurdo Sound , close to Scott's old headquarters, in contravention of a promise to Scott that he would not do so. Nevertheless, although the expedition's profile was initially much lower than that of Scott's six years earlier , its achievements attracted widespread interest and made Shackleton a national hero. The scientific team, which included the future Australasian Antarctic Expedition leader Douglas Mawson , carried out extensive geological, zoological and meteorological work. Shackleton's transport arrangements, based on Manchurian ponies, motor traction, and sled dogs , were innovations which, despite limited success, were later copied by Scott for his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition . On his return, Shackleton overcame
13500-459: The expedition's southern march reached a Farthest South latitude of 88° 23' S, just 97.5 nautical miles (180.6 km; 112.2 mi) from the pole. This was by far the longest southern polar journey to that date and a record convergence on either Pole. A separate group led by Welsh Australian geology professor Edgeworth David reached the estimated location of the South magnetic pole , and
13650-498: The expedition, Shackleton makes no reference to the wrangle with Scott. He merely states that "before we finally left England I had decided that if possible I would establish my base in King Edward VII Land instead of [...] McMurdo Sound". After inspection by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra , Nimrod sailed on 11 August 1907. Shackleton remained behind on expedition business; he and other expedition members followed on
13800-454: The first to reach the magnetic South Pole in 1909, and the geographic South Pole was first reached in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen . Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries , all of which are parties of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System . According to the terms of the treaty, military activity, mining, nuclear explosions , and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited in Antarctica. Tourism , fishing and research are
13950-468: The first use of the name being attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew . Antarctica has also been known by the moniker Great White South , after which British photographer Herbert Ponting named one of his books on Antarctic photography, possibly as a counterpart to the epithet Great White North for Canada . Positioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of
14100-523: The four men independently confirmed his belief in the latitude achieved, and none gave any subsequent cause for his word to be doubted. Shackleton was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) by King Edward VII, who later conferred a knighthood on him. The RGS presented him with a gold medal, although apparently with reservations—"We do not propose to make the Medal so large as that which
14250-402: The gap of 12,000 km (7,456 mi). Large animals such as some cetaceans and birds make the round trip annually. Smaller forms of life, such as sea cucumbers and free-swimming snails , are also found in both polar oceans. Factors that may aid in their distribution include temperature differences between the deep ocean at the poles and the equator of no more than 5 °C (9 °F) and
14400-494: The genus Dicroidium , which grew as trees. Other associated Triassic flora included ginkgophytes , cycadophytes , conifers , and sphenopsids. Tetrapods first appeared in Antarctica during the early Triassic , with the earliest known fossils found in the Fremouw Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains. Synapsids (also known as "mammal-like reptiles") included species such as Lystrosaurus , and were common during
14550-520: The globe to balance the northern lands of Europe, Asia, and North Africa—had existed as an intellectual concept since classical antiquity . The belief in such a land lasted until the European discovery of Australia . During the early 19th century, explorer Matthew Flinders doubted the existence of a detached continent south of Australia (then called New Holland ) and thus advocated for the "Terra Australis" name to be used for Australia instead. In 1824,
14700-442: The harder he pulled". The depot was reached on 28 January. Wild, ill with dysentery , was unable to pull or to eat anything but biscuits, which were in short supply. On 31 January Shackleton forced his own breakfast biscuit on Wild, a gesture that moved Wild to write: "BY GOD I shall never forget. Thousands of pounds would not have bought that one biscuit". A few days later, the rest of the party were struck with severe enteritis ,
14850-569: The highly prized Patagonian toothfish which is marketed as Chilean sea bass in the U.S.—remains a problem. In analogy to the 1980 treaty on sustainable fishing , countries led by New Zealand and the United States negotiated a treaty on mining. This Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities was adopted in 1988. After a strong campaign from environmental organisations, first Australia and then France decided not to ratify
15000-464: The hut late on 28 February. Hoping that the ship was nearby, they sought to attract its attention by setting fire to a small wooden hut used for magnetic observations. Shortly afterwards the ship, which had been anchored at the Glacier Tongue , came into view: "No happier sight ever met the eyes of man", wrote Wild later. It was a further three days before Adams and Marshall could be picked up from
15150-536: The islands of the Kerguelen Plateau , the earliest of which formed around 40 Ma . Vinson Massif , in the Ellsworth Mountains , is the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft). Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano and erupts around 10 times each day. Ash from eruptions has been found 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the volcanic crater . There
15300-487: The latest. The four men were now much weakened, yet in the following days they achieved impressive distances, reaching the head of the glacier on 19 January. As they began the descent they had five days' food at half rations, to last them until the Lower Glacier depot; during the ascent the same distance had taken 12 days. Shackleton's physical condition was by now a major concern, yet according to Adams "the worse he felt,
15450-467: The main human activities in and around Antarctica. During the summer months, about 5,000 people reside at research stations , a figure that drops to around 1,000 in the winter. Despite the continent's remoteness, human activity has a significant effect on it via pollution , ozone depletion , and climate change . The melting of the potentially unstable West Antarctic ice sheet causes the most uncertainty in century-scale projections of sea level rise , and
15600-814: The major current systems or marine conveyor belts which are able to transport eggs and larva . About 1,150 species of fungi have been recorded in the Antarctic region, of which about 750 are non- lichen -forming. Some of the species, having evolved under extreme conditions, have colonised structural cavities within porous rocks and have contributed to shaping the rock formations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and surrounding mountain ridges. The simplified morphology of such fungi, along with their similar biological structures , metabolism systems capable of remaining active at very low temperatures, and reduced life cycles, make them well suited to such environments. Their thick-walled and strongly melanised cells make them resistant to UV radiation. An Antarctic endemic species,
15750-653: The many Antarctic ice shelves , a process described by ice-sheet dynamics . East Antarctica comprises Coats Land , Queen Maud Land , Enderby Land , Mac . Robertson Land , Wilkes Land , and Victoria Land. All but a small portion of the region lies within the Eastern Hemisphere . East Antarctica is largely covered by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet . There are numerous islands surrounding Antarctica, most of which are volcanic and very young by geological standards. The most prominent exceptions to this are
15900-474: The motor expert, and Sir Philip Brocklehurst, the subscribing member who had been taken on as assistant geologist. The small scientific team that departed from England included 41-year-old biologist James Murray and 21-year-old geologist Raymond Priestley , a future founder of the Scott Polar Research Institute . Two important additions to the team were made in Australia. The first of these
16050-573: The north'). Antarcticus is derived from the Greek ἀντι- ('anti-') and ἀρκτικός ('of the Bear ', 'northern'). The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in Meteorology about an "Antarctic region" in c. 350 BCE . The Greek geographer Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his world map from the second century CE, now lost. The Roman authors Gaius Julius Hyginus and Apuleius used for
16200-564: The ocean around Antarctica, including some that normally reside in the Arctic. The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica; it and the Adélie penguin breed farther south than any other penguin. A Census of Marine Life by some 500 researchers during the International Polar Year was released in 2010. The research found that more than 235 marine organisms live in both polar regions, having bridged
16350-471: The old Discovery Expedition headquarters in McMurdo Sound . From there he proposed to launch attempts to reach the geographical South Pole and the South magnetic pole . Other journeys would follow, and there would be a continuous programme of scientific work. This early plan also revealed Shackleton's proposed transport methods, involving a combination of dogs, ponies and a specially designed motor vehicle. Neither ponies nor motor traction had been used in
16500-487: The others advanced to the active crater, which they reached after four hours. Several meteorological experiments were carried out and many rock samples were taken. Thereafter a rapid descent was made, mainly by sliding down successive snow-slopes. The party reached the Cape Royds hut "nearly dead", according to Eric Marshall, on 11 March. The expedition's hut, a prefabricated structure measuring 33 x 19 feet (10m x 5.8m),
16650-412: The party reached 81° S. On 26 November a new farthest south record was established as they passed the 82° 17' mark set by Scott's southern march in December 1902. Shackleton's party covered the distance in 29 days compared with Scott's 59, using a track considerably east of Scott's to avoid the surface problems the earlier journey had encountered. As the group moved into unknown territory,
16800-408: The pony's harness broke, and the sledge containing their supplies remained on the surface. For the rest of the southward journey and the whole of the return trip they had to rely on man-hauling . As the journey continued, personal antagonisms emerged. Wild privately expressed the wish that Marshall would "fall down a crevasse about a thousand feet deep". Marshall wrote that following Shackleton to
16950-424: The record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth , −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer. Native species of animals include mites , nematodes , penguins , seals and tardigrades . Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss . The ice shelves of Antarctica were probably first seen in 1820, during
17100-500: The relief of Otto Nordenskjöld 's expedition, stranded in the Weddell Sea . During the next few years, while nursing intermittent hopes of resuming his Antarctic career, Shackleton pursued other options. In 1906 he was working for the industrial magnate Sir William Beardmore as a public relations officer. According to his biographer Roland Huntford , the references to Shackleton's physical breakdown made in Scott's The Voyage of
17250-425: The rendezvous was not reached until 2 February. That night, in heavy drifting snow, Nimrod passed by them, unable to make out their camp. Two days later, however, after Nimrod had turned south again, the group was spotted from the ship and was able to scramble to safety, although in the rush to get aboard Mawson fell 18 feet (5.5 m) down a crevasse. The party had been travelling for four months and were wearing
17400-431: The result of eating tainted pony-meat. But the pace of march had to be maintained; the small amounts of food carried between depots would make any delay fatal. However, a strong wind behind them enabled them to set a sail on the sledge and maintain a good marching rate. "We are so thin that our bones ache as we lie on the hard snow", wrote Shackleton. From 18 February onward they began to pick up familiar landmarks, and on
17550-526: The saline Antarctic bottom water , weakening the lower cell of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation (SOOC). According to some research, a full collapse of the SOOC may occur a between 1.7 °C (3.1 °F) and 3 °C (5.4 °F) of global warming, although the full effects are expected to occur over multiple centuries; these include less precipitation in the Southern Hemisphere but more in
17700-573: The same clothes in which they had departed Cape Royds; reportedly "the aroma was overpowering". Before this rescue, Nimrod had picked up a geological party consisting of Priestley, Brocklehurst and Bertram Armytage , who had been carrying out geological work in the Ferrar Glacier region. On 23 March 1909, Shackleton landed in New Zealand and cabled a 2,500-word report to the London Daily Mail , with which he had an exclusive contract. Amid
17850-476: The same melting also affects the Southern Ocean overturning circulation , which can eventually lead to significant impacts on the Southern Hemisphere climate and Southern Ocean productivity. The name given to the continent originates from the word antarctic , which comes from Middle French antartique or antarctique ('opposite to the Arctic ') and, in turn, the Latin antarcticus ('opposite to
18000-417: The ship in the following season. On 3 February Shackleton decided not to wait for the ice to shift but to make his headquarters at the nearest practicable landing place, Cape Royds . Late that evening the ship was moored, and a suitable site for the expedition's prefabricated hut was selected. The site was separated from Hut Point by 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) of sea, with no landward route to
18150-466: The ship towards King Edward VII Land. After repeated efforts to approach this coast had failed, and with rapidly moving ice threatening to trap the ship, Nimrod was forced to retreat. Shackleton's only choice now, other than abandonment of the expedition's goals, was to break the promise he had given to Scott. On 25 January he ordered the ship to head for McMurdo Sound. On arriving in McMurdo Sound on 29 January 1908, Nimrod ' s progress southward to
18300-439: The south, [...] a great glacier, running almost south to north between two huge mountain ranges". Shackleton christened this glacier the "Beardmore" after the expedition's biggest sponsor. Travel on the glacier surface proved to be a trial, especially for Socks, the remaining pony, who had great difficulty in finding secure footings. On 7 December, Socks disappeared down a deep crevasse , very nearly taking Wild with him. However,
18450-542: The south. Shackleton believed the party was "fortunate to get winter quarters as near as this to our starting point for the south." The following days were occupied with the landing of stores and equipment. This work was hampered by poor weather and by the caution of Captain England, who frequently took the ship out into the bay until ice conditions at the landing ground were in his view safer. The next fortnight followed this pattern, leading to sharp dissent between Shackleton and
18600-406: The species of fungi, which are apparently endemic to Antarctica, live in bird dung, and have evolved so they can grow inside extremely cold dung, but can also pass through the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Throughout its history, Antarctica has seen a wide variety of plant life. In the Cretaceous , it was dominated by a fern- conifer ecosystem, which changed into a temperate rainforest by
18750-683: The sub-Antarctic islands. The flightless midge Belgica antarctica , the largest purely terrestrial animal in Antarctica, reaches 6 mm ( 1 ⁄ 4 in) in size. Antarctic krill , which congregates in large schools , is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, being an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals , fur seals, squid , icefish , and many bird species, such as penguins and albatrosses . Some species of marine animals exist and rely, directly or indirectly, on phytoplankton . Antarctic sea life includes penguins , blue whales , orcas , colossal squids and fur seals . The Antarctic fur seal
18900-405: The symbolic achievement of getting within 100 geographical miles of the Pole. The party struggled on, at the borders of survival, until on 9 January 1909, after a last dash forward without the sledge or other equipment, the march ended. "We have shot our bolt", wrote Shackleton, "and the tale is 88° 23' S". They were 97.5 geographical miles from the South Pole . The Union Jack
19050-551: The time of Operation Highjump , 1946–1947, made possible that unprecedentedly large Antarctic expedition. [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from "Nimitz Glacier" . Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . This article about a glacier in Ellsworth Land is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Antarctica Antarctica ( / æ n ˈ t ɑːr k t ɪ k ə / )
19200-572: The treaty. Instead, countries adopted the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol), which entered into force in 1998. The Madrid Protocol bans all mining, designating the continent as a "natural reserve devoted to peace and science". The pressure group Greenpeace established a base on Ross Island from 1987 to 1992 as part of its attempt to establish
19350-464: The various effects of climate change . Early world maps, like the 1513 Piri Reis map , feature the hypothetical continent Terra Australis . Much larger than and unrelated to Antarctica, Terra Australis was a landmass that classical scholars presumed necessary to balance the known lands in the northern hemisphere. Captain James Cook 's ships, HMS Resolution and Adventure , crossed
19500-412: The water when it freezes, which accumulates into pockets of brine that also harbour dormant microorganisms. When the ice begins to melt, brine pockets expand and can combine to form brine channels, and the algae inside the pockets can reawaken and thrive until the next freeze. Bacteria have also been found as deep as 800 m (0.50 mi) under the ice. It is thought to be likely that there exists
19650-481: The £30,000 was raised, although by the end of the expedition total costs had risen, by Shackleton's estimate, to £45,000. Shackleton expected to make large sums from his book about the expedition and from lectures. He also hoped to profit from sales of special postage stamps bearing the cancellation stamp of the Antarctica post office that Shackleton, appointed temporary postmaster by the New Zealand government, intended to establish there. None of these schemes produced
19800-452: Was Edgeworth David, a professor of geology at the University of Sydney , who became the party's chief scientific officer. The second was a former pupil of David's, Douglas Mawson , a lecturer in mineralogy at the University of Adelaide . Both had originally intended to sail to Antarctica and then immediately back with Nimrod but were persuaded to become full members of the expedition. David
19950-451: Was appointed chief officer at the last moment. Aeneas Mackintosh , a merchant navy officer from the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), was originally second officer , but was later transferred to the shore party, being replaced as second officer by A. E. Harbord. Others in the shore party were the two surgeons, Alistair Mackay and Eric Marshall , Bernard Day
20100-454: Was awarded to Captain Scott", recorded an official. Although in the eyes of the public he was a hero, the riches that Shackleton had anticipated failed to materialise. The soaring costs of the expedition and the need to meet loan guarantees meant that he was saved from financial embarrassment only by a belated government grant of £20,000. The farthest south record of the Nimrod Expedition stood for less than three years, until Amundsen reached
20250-653: Was beyond Shackleton's means. Bjorn was eventually acquired by German explorer Wilhelm Filchner and, renamed Deutschland , was used in his 1911–1913 voyage to the Weddell Sea. Shackleton had to settle for the elderly, much smaller Nimrod , a forty-year-old wooden sealer of 334 gross register tons , which he was able to acquire for £5,000 (updated value £668,000). Shackleton was shocked by his first sight of Nimrod after her arrival in London from Newfoundland in June 1907. "She
20400-517: Was cooler, though fossils of land plants are known from then. Sand and silts were laid down in what is now the Ellsworth, Horlick , and Pensacola Mountains . Antarctica became glaciated during the Late Paleozoic icehouse beginning at the end of the Devonian period (360 Ma), though glaciation would substantially increase during the late Carboniferous . It drifted closer to the South Pole, and
20550-441: Was duly planted, and Shackleton named the polar plateau after King Edward VII. Shackleton's party turned for home after 73 days' southward travel. Rations had been cut several times to extend the return journey time beyond the original 110-day estimate. Shackleton now aimed to reach Hut Point in 50 days, since according to Shackleton's prior orders Nimrod , having returned to take the expedition home, would depart on 1 March at
20700-407: Was excluded from the party after Marshall's medical examination raised doubts about his fitness. The march began on 29 October 1908. Shackleton had calculated the return distance to the Pole as 1,494 nautical miles (2,767 km; 1,719 mi). His initial plan allowed 91 days for the return journey, requiring a daily average distance of about 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi). After
20850-469: Was high; as Brocklehurst recorded, Shackleton "had a faculty for treating each member of the expedition as though he were valuable to it". In the ensuing months of winter darkness Joyce and Wild printed around 30 copies of the expedition's book, Aurora Australis , which were sewn and bound using packaging materials. The most important winter's work, however, was preparing for the following season's major journeys, which were to include attempts on both
21000-475: Was initially very slow. By the end of October they had crossed McMurdo Sound and advanced 60 miles (100 km) up the difficult Victoria Land coast, at which point they decided to concentrate all their efforts on reaching the Magnetic Pole. After traversing the Nordenskjöld Ice Tongue and the treacherous Drygalski Ice Tongue they were finally able to leave the coast and turn north-west, towards
21150-523: Was instrumental in securing the Australian government's £5,000 grant. Before departure for the Antarctic in August 1907, Joyce and Wild took a crash course in printing methods, as it was Shackleton's intention to publish a book or magazine while in the Antarctic. Shackleton's February 1907 announcement that he intended to base his expedition at the old Discovery headquarters was noted by Scott, whose own future Antarctic plans were at that stage unannounced. In
21300-519: Was lacking the funds to complete the refit of Nimrod . In mid-July he approached the philanthropic Earl of Iveagh , otherwise known as Edward Guinness, head of the Anglo-Irish brewing family, who agreed to guarantee the sum of £2,000 (updated value £270,000) provided that Shackleton found other backers to contribute a further £6,000. Shackleton was able to do this, the extra funds including £2,000 from Sir Philip Brocklehurst , who paid this sum to secure
21450-544: Was located within Victoria Land. Polar historian Beau Riffenburgh believes this was "a promise that should never ethically have been demanded and one that should never have been given, impacting as it might on the entire safety of Shackleton's expedition". The dispute soured relations between the two men (who nevertheless maintained public civilities) and would eventually lead to the complete rupture of Shackleton's formerly close friendship with Wilson. In his own account of
21600-441: Was much dilapidated and smelt strongly of seal oil, and an inspection [...] showed that she needed caulking and that her masts would have to be renewed." However, in the hands of experienced ship-fitters she soon "assumed a more satisfactory appearance." Later, Shackleton reported, he became extremely proud of the sturdy little ship. By early July 1907 Shackleton had secured little financial support beyond Beardmore's guarantee and
21750-499: Was not clarified until the expedition reached the Antarctic—was Jameson Boyd Adams , a Royal Naval Reserve lieutenant who had turned down the chance of a regular commission to join Shackleton. He would also act as the expedition's meteorologist. Nimrod ' s captain was another naval reserve officer, Rupert England; 23-year-old John King Davis , who would later make his own reputation as an Antarctic captain,
21900-472: Was not recorded at a height of 2 m (7 ft) above the surface as required for official air temperature records. Antarctica is a polar desert with little precipitation ; the continent receives an average equivalent to about 150 mm (6 in) of water per year, mostly in the form of snow. The interior is dryer and receives less than 50 mm (2 in) per year, whereas the coastal regions typically receive more than 200 mm (8 in). In
22050-661: Was part of the Terra Nova Expedition's scientific team. Wild was second-in-command to the "Boss" on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and on the short Quest Expedition , where he took over command after Shackleton's death at South Georgia Island in 1922. Ten years after her return from the Antarctic, Nimrod was battered to pieces in the North Sea after running aground on the Barber Sands off
22200-469: Was ready for occupation by the end of February. It was divided into a series of mainly two-person cubicles, with a kitchen area, a darkroom, storage and laboratory space. The ponies were housed in stalls built on the most sheltered side of the hut, while the dog kennels were placed close to the porch. Shackleton's inclusive leadership style, in contrast to that of Scott, meant no demarcation between upper and lower decks—all lived, worked and ate together. Morale
22350-462: Was sighted on 23 January, but the inlet had disappeared; the Barrier edge had changed significantly in the intervening years, and the section which had included the inlet had broken away to form a considerable bay, which Shackleton named the Bay of Whales after the large number of whales seen there. Shackleton was not prepared to risk wintering on a Barrier surface that might calve into the sea, so he turned
22500-496: Was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by seal hunters from the United States and the United Kingdom. Leopard seals are apex predators in the Antarctic ecosystem and migrate across the Southern Ocean in search of food. There are approximately 40 bird species that breed on or close to Antarctica, including species of petrels , penguins , cormorants , and gulls . Various other bird species visit
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