Take a Trip to Antarctica

Do you recognize this landform? It’s the continent of Antarctica. It’s the only continent without a single country, although 22 have a ‘consultative’ status. That’s because they agreed to a 1959 treaty. They promised to keep Antarctica as a scientific preserve, like a national park. It was to be preserved as a place of scientific study and environmental protection.

One of my critique partners, Sandra Martin Denis just got back from Antarctica. She was there during the summer, the warmest time of year. It’s funny – Antarctica’s summer is during our winter.
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                    Part 1: It came straight from Sandra’s trip – her photos and her words. Enjoy!
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​Penguins live in Antarctica.    
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​Penguins live in colonies. They're great swimmers. They spend half their time in the water and half their time on land. They are expert divers. They eat krill, fish, and squid. 
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Penguins mate for life. They build nests of stones. Most penguins lay two eggs in a clutch. The male and the female take turns incubating the eggs, except for the emperor penguin. 
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They build "highways" on the snow.​
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Their main enemy is the Leopard Seal. Sandra didn’t have a picture of one, but I found these two on Pixabay. Yikes! Look at those teeth. OUCH!
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Part 2: A trivia question about Antarctica’s climate.

What is the average temperature range for Antarctica per year?

10°C to -60°C     10°C to -10°C     30°C to 20°C     -5°C to -10°Celsius
50°F to -76°F      50°F to 14°F        86°F to 68°F      23°F to 14°Fahrenheit
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Take a guess, then check below the map. 
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I completely missed this one. Antarctica is warmer than I thought! The annual temperature for the whole continent ranges from about −10°C on the coast to −60°Celsius. In Fahrenheit that’s 50°F to -76°F. Wow, 50 is way warmer than I imagined. That’s like a warm March day in Ohio! But it all depends on – location, location, location.
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That 50°F was near the coast, in the summer. That’s where Sandra was, but she said she wore a parka. Maybe at night when the sun goes down, the coastal temperature drops too. In the winter – that coastal temperature gets even colder, -40, and that’s the reading on both Celsius and Fahrenheit thermometers. That surprised me. I’ve never seen the two temperature scales match, with the same exact number. Incredible!

I’m glad Sandra didn’t go inland, especially to the mountaintops. Their warmest temperature – -22. That’s one of the worst winter days in Ohio, ever. I don’t want to think how cold it gets in their winter. Ready? That’s -112?! Holy frostbite, that’s cold!
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And the coldest temperature ever recorded on earth?  -128.56, at the Vostok station in Antarctica. That’s where scientists live. And the date – July 21, 1983. YIKES!


​                                                             Part 3: Wind Speed and Snowfall by the Numbers

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Those temperatures, like -112 F are without the windchill. To find that, I looked up the wind speed on the antarctica.gov link below. I don’t want to do the math, but if you can imagine, an Antarctic wind can blow at 100 km/h, and it can blow for days! I don’t do kilometers, so in miles per hour – that’s 62. If you want to imagine it, stand beside a highway. That’s how fast cars will drive by. I’m feeling colder already!
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Are you ready for the strongest winds? That’s 200 km/h or 124 mph, or the wind speed of a Category 3 hurricane. YIKES – x 2! ☹

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As for snow – the average accumulation for the whole continent of Antarctica is 150 mm of water per year, or 5.9 inches. If you’re not sure what that looks like, find 6 on a ruler.

When you go inland to the elevated plateau, the annual value drops to 50 mm. That’s only 1.96 inches. But at the coast, it rises to 200 mm or 7.87 inches. 

​But for the heaviest rain or snow, find the peninsula in the northwestern corner of the map. It stretches to the north, and the Bellingshausen Sea is below it, to the south. It’s not labeled, but it gets over 1000 mm of water. In inches that’s 39.37. Think yardstick, then add your index finger for another 3 inches. That’s a lot of water!
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​Sources:
For more information: www.antarctica.gov.au
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My source: What is the average annual... | Trivia Answers | QuizzClub
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Map: By Robert Simmon - en:Internet Archive - https://web.archive.org/web/20070823123915/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17838 (originally    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17838 NASA Earth Observatory), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3126858

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