Antarctica Day - December 1

Antarctica is the coldest, driest, most glacial, most turbulent, southernmost and least diverse range of animals on earth.

The site Our Spaces from the Foundation for the Good Governance of International Spaces created Antarctica Day, the special day for the neutral continent that no one lives in but many countries are constantly exploring, on December 1, in honor of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty before 60 years on this date.

Where is Antarctica? View map:

The Antarctic Treaty (or Alliance) opened with the accession of states on December 1, 1959 and officially entered into force on June 23, 1961. The 12 countries that were active in Antarctica in the previous year first joined the Alliance: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, India, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries have established more than 50 research stations in Antarctica during the year. The Convention gave diplomatic expression to the scientific and operational cooperation established between the countries active on the continent. After that, many more countries joined, but Israel was not among them. The Convention is intended to preserve the environment of Antarctica and to establish the legal laws that will apply to the place in accordance with the citizens of the countries that are in it at that given time.

Here are some fascinating details about the southernmost continent on Earth:

Antarctica is the coldest place on earth. The lowest temperature measured was 128 degrees Fahrenheit (89 degrees Celsius).

Antarctica is the driest place in the world - the amount of precipitation on the continent is the lowest in the world - less than 100 mm per year, so it is also the largest desert on the planet. The little precipitation that falls in it is in the form of snow. The place is dry and has almost no moisture.

Antarctica is the stormiest place - the winds reach a speed of 320 km / h.

The Antarctic continent is the place with the largest mass of ice in the world. 99% of the continent is covered in ice.

The average thickness of the glacier in Antarctica is about a kilometer! Most of the fresh water ice (90%) and most of the fresh water (70%) are here.

In Antarctica, humans have never lived permanently, but people have traveled there for various reasons over the years: scientists, whalers and even tourists. People nowadays need to get a research base job to travel to Antarctica. To get around the continent, people use huge snow carriages.

Want to visit Antarctica? You can travel to Isla Rey Jorge, which is about 120 km off the coast of Antarctica. In the summer season it has very limited tourism. On the island you can see the southernmost lighthouse in the world and meet some more animals like elephants, seals , Leopard Seal, Adele penguin, chin-striped penguin and white-eared penguin. Several species of seabirds nest on the island during the summer, including hummingbirds, and giant stormtroopers (Photo source: Instagram)

Most of the creatures that live in Antarctica are in the water that surrounds the continent, and spend little time on the beaches. There are among them 8 species of penguins, 7 species of seals and other marine predators and some invertebrates. Flying birds nest on the lighter shores of the Antarctic Peninsula and the southern Shetland Islands, where some more unique plants grow and live more small invertebrates.

The tiny creatures that live in Antarctica are: terrestrial mollusks, wingless flies, water bears, earthworms, micro-invertebrates such as nematodes and rollerblades, snow algae, resurrected bacteria after long periods (centuries) of freezing, about 1,150 microscopic species of Mushrooms, plankton, mosses and lichens.

There is a law for the protection of Antarctica that restricts American activity on the continent to preserve its unique fauna (animal population) and surrounding areas. Non-native animal or plant species may not be introduced to Antarctica, which may upset the ecological balance and exclude native species from it.

In 1980, the Antarctic Convention on the Conservation of Marine Resources came into force, aimed at maintaining a normal level of fishing in the region and preventing species extinction. Despite this, humans are still harming the Antarctic ecosystem by uncontrolled and illegal fishing.

The Imperial Penguin is one of the species of penguins that live in Antarctica  

The only two civilian settlements on the continent are small towns belonging to Chile and Argentina: Chile has Villa Las Astrales where families of Chilean Air Force and continental explorers live, and Argentina has the Esperanza base, the base of hope where the explorers' families live and there It even has a school and radio broadcasts.

Some countries have Antarctic airports that use ice and snow for their runways.

An American plane lands in Antarctica and is greeted by penguins.  

In honor of the new year, there is an annual concert called Icestock, and it is hosted at McMardo Station. In 2013, the band Metallica performed at a concert, making it the only band in the world to perform on all 7 continents.

Metallica performs in Antarctica (Source: YouTube) 

Every year in November the Antarctic Ice Marathon is held where a marathon in snow and ice runs a 42 km track. Another race that takes place in Antarctica is the Ultra 100K Race.

The north of the earth has the northern lights, Antarctica in the south has the aurora (Aurora Australis).

In 2014 two anonymous researchers found Tinder's first match in Antarctica, but scheduling issues prevented them from dating.

Antarctica is considered one of the best places to find meteorites as the dry and cold climate helps preserve them.

So what do you say? Would you like to travel to Antarctica?

December 1st is also World AIDS Day