Antarctica- At the Bottom of the World

An Iceberg in Antarctica

Antarctica is the COLDEST, DRIEST, HIGHEST and WINDIEST continent in the World. With the coldest temperature ever recorded on the Earth (-89 deg C at the Russian Vostok Station), it is the coldest place. With a precipitation rate close to that of Sahara, it is the driest continent and with an average altitude of above 8000 ft it is also  the highest continent on the Earth. The down-slope blowing winds, also called as the katabatic winds, can go a speed of up to 180 mph!

Penguins over sea ice cover

Antarctica is the only natural habitat to the cute flightless birds- the Penguins. They swim around the freezing cold waters of Antarctica enjoying every moment of their life, at least that is what seems to me! Even while moving across the vast ice cover they would slide over the surface and that too in very high speeds.





Luckily I got the chance to visit such a beautiful place as I was a part of the 29th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (XXIX InSEA, November 2009 through March 2010). The Expedition generally consists of two teams- the Winter Team (Expedition period of about 14 months) and the Summer Team (normally, 4/6 months). I was with the Summer Team.

Table Top Harbor, Cape Town, SA

The Summer Expedition was officially flagged off from the Table Top Harbor, Cape Town on 29 November 2009 at around 2355 hrs GMT. A thousand miles journey began with a small step!

I, not even in my wildest dreams, have never thought I'd one day be sailing in wild, deep seas and that too, to go on an expedition to   Antarctica! The first thought we all had in mind was the fear of sea-sickness. Almost everyone had just got the medicines ready for that "somewhat-horrible-experience". It was lucky for me to escape being sea-sick.

India's scientific bases in Antarctica

The journey to Terra Australic Ignota (as was called by Aristotle and the ancient mariners in 15th Century) took around 10 days. Our ship, (by the way, our ship Ivan Papanin was chartered from the Russian shipping firm Murmansk Shipping Company) halted near the Prydz Bay. The area was found to be covered with thick sea ice cover, the fast ice, which spread up to several kilometers. We could really walk over this ice cover. Initially, we were a bit scared to get down over the fast ice but once we saw a huge container weighing over 3/4tons resting over it, we walked over the surface, all scares gone. The weather during that period of the year was fine. It was summer there. And we experienced all 24-hour sunlight there. In summer time which could extend from November to March in Southern Hemisphere, there is always daylight and night doesn't occur. So, the time we reached there was the best time of the year with full bright sunshine. We enjoyed the weather there.