Chile Re-Opens Arturo Prat Base

This week Chile re-opened it's Arturo Prat Base in Antarctica, which was closed back in 2004. The base was opened for the first time in the 1940s. One of the reasons behind reopening it is to assert their presence and back up the rights they claim to the continent in lieu of the recent claims of seabed by countries, such as the United Kingdom. Now they are actually using this in compliance with the regulations in Antarctica and it is a scientific base just like other countries. To be added to the base is a multipurpose science lab and a museum focusing on Chile's past involvement in Antarctica.

Here is an article about the base re-opening.

Mysterious Meteorites Found in Antarctica

Today I found a National Geographic article about scientists being baffled about the origins of meteorites found in Antarctica. The meteorites were found in 2006 and were originally thought to be from the moon or Venus. Further science investigation about what the meteorites are made out of has proved that these origins are unlikely. The article not only has a good in depth look at the scientists uncertainty, but also what they know about the make up of their unique meteorites.

Update on Russian Sailing Around Antarctica

Here is an update on Fedor Konyukhov's progress in attempting to sail around Antarctica on his own. He has currently around Cape Horn and facing the famous bad weather conditions of wind and rough seas here. Just reading how he cannot always tell the difference between ocean and sky and the radar sounding alarms and false alarms for icebergs makes you realize that man sure does not control everything and are not even able to predict everything. It also shows that Fedor Konyukhov has that explorer spirit that you do not see too much of anymore.

Antarctic Ice and Climate Change

Today I published a HubPage on Antarctic Ice and Climate Change that I thought might interest my blog readers. It is not exactly something I recently researched, so I admit it may be a little out of date in data, but it was most recently edited only a year ago, thus it is still mostly accurate. It is mostly about the effects of climate change being already seen in Antarctica and how it relates to the animals, such as Adelie Penguins, in the region.

Interesting Antarctica vs. Arctic Australian News Article

I found this interesting article today that boasts about the political claims over the Arctic are a heated subject while the Antarctic is rather a cold war with no disputes over its seabed. Well, the article does make sense in that it points out how an international treaty does prevent taking advantage of natural resources in the Antarctic and overall the territorial claims in the Antarctic are not made into a big international issue. It does, however, ignore the fact that countries are making very similar seabed claims in Antarctica just like the ones it criticizes happening up north. No, the south is not any better in this respect, but hey I agree with the overall bias that Antarctic is better than the Arctic. Just do not think the facts should be ignored that the Antarctic is not immune to countries fighting over its territory.

Below is a list of the past blog posts I have done about news articles related to the territorial claims in Antarctica. This is not all inclusive of the countries claiming parts of Antarctica, but just examples to show why I am critizing the author of the article ignoring the fact that similar claims are going on in the south.

Chile's Claim
UK Claim

Russian Deputy Premier Visits Antarctica

Here is an article about the First Russian Deputy Premier visiting Antarctica. The reason for the visit is to solve transportation problems that Russian researchers face, hence the reason the Russian Transport Minister was part of the dignitaries visiting Antarctica.

Winner of the Antarctic Half Marathon

I know the marathon was finished on March 3rd, but I had forgotten about it until I finally came across a news story today. The winner of the 9th Annual Antarctic Half Marathon was Greg Hales from Aptos, California, with a time of 1 hour 42 minutes and 15 seconds. There were 221 participants from 18 countries.

100th Anniversary of First Ascent of Mount Erebus

Tomorrow (March 10th) is the 100th Anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Erebus, which is largest active volcano on the continent of Antarctica. The group that first climbed this mountain were part of Shackleton's 1907-1909 expedition. The anniversary is being celebrated in what may seen an old location of Sorocco, New Mexico, but it relates to Mount Erebus in that this is where the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory is located.

Another Update on Russian Sailing Around Antarctica

The Russian continues his journey of setting a record of sailing around Antarctica. Here is a recent article about his progress. He is nearing Cape Horn and due to icebergs part of the Inside Lane of the Antarctic Cup track has been closed.

Antarctic Book: Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I was out of the country last week. On my flight home I finally finished an Antarctic fiction book I started many months ago. Troubling a Star is a fictional account of a high school girl going on an Antarctic cruise. Along the way she receives warnings of politic trouble in the Antarctic and ends up an innocent person targeted as a threat to those with a political agenda on the cruise. From the beginning you know she ends up left on an iceberg because the book starts with her on an iceberg and then flashes back to the story of how she ended up there. Wanting to know how she got there and if and how she is rescued is what made me want to keep reading the book, however I will admit the first half of the book was slow reading. Once I got to the part where she was actually on her Antarctic cruise about half way through the book I found the book interesting and hard to put down. Thus overall I rate this is a good fictional book with a great description of the general aspects of an Antarctic cruise that I could recognize similarities with my own Antarctic cruise experience. The beginning does not exactly hook you into reading the book, but in the end retrospectively looking back at the first half of the book the background provided is what makes the book all the more interesting in the outcome.