Why is Antarctica so special?

For the mission, Antarctica is no longer a distant target. It’s become a really welcoming experience and one where you can enjoy it in an environmentally conscious way. Each trip is unique as it adapts to the weather and ice conditions and takes on unique opportunities. You can also customize your trip to your preferences – kayaking, camping and hiking or coastal walking and cycling.

The Antarctic climate is very diverse. Due to the size of the island and the changes in tectonic, geographical and climatic factors, it is not surprising that it has experienced geological changes over time. But because more than 99% of the surface is covered by ice, the Antarctic surface is not known in detail, and our understanding of the rocks and geological features beneath the ice must be assessed only from the relatively small fraction of rock (about 0.4% of the surface) exposed as well from the rails, as such. These include satellite imagery, ground-penetrating radar, the use of shock waves, and the study of gravitational anomalies. Although Antarctica has been extensively mapped in various formats, efforts are currently underway to improve the detail and make the topographic maps available digitally.

The study of the Antarctic continent has yielded many important pieces of information: some rocks preserve evidence of periods of ice age, as well as providing researchers with clues as to when and how the Gondwana continent broke up (as discussed in the previous section). Antarctica is free of rocks and artifacts, but for physical and political reasons (see below) they are not currently used.

Interestingly, Antarctica is the best place in the world to look for meteorites. And not only is the continent an important place to study world history, but it is also a window into the history of the world.