Süd (g)
sul (p)
south (e)
sud (f)
sud (i)
the south pole
Once more to our orange example. The South Pole is the very bottom of the orange, as far south as you can get on earth. The only place you can go from the South Pole is north and its latitude is the maximum measure, 90 degrees south. All of the longitude lines running south of the equator meet at the South Pole. Unlike the North Pole, the South Pole is not in the middle of the ocean but rather is located on the continent of Antarctica, the Earth’s fifth-largest continent; larger than both Europe and Australia. Not surprisingly, given that it is the coldest, driest and windiest of the continents, it is the only continent on Earth without a native population and even today, is the Earth’s least populated. Located almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle (remember, one of those five major imaginary latitude circles on the orange), it is surrounded by the Southern or Antarctic Ocean and is mostly covered by an ice sheet. The Southern Ocean and the waters north of Antarctica are known as some of the roughest, turbulent waters in the world, named the “Roaring Forties” and the “Furious Fifties”, referring to the area’s latitudes. (A little something to think about before you sign on for an Antarctica cruise.) There is also a saying: Below 40 degrees latitude, there is no law; and below 50 degrees, there is no God.
Unlike the North Pole, control of the South Pole and Antarctica is not in dispute (well, maybe just a little, see below) and, in fact, is the subject of an unusual treaty. The British explorer Captain James Cook searched for a mass of land below the Antarctic Circle between 1772 and 1775 with no luck. It wasn’t until January 27, 1820, that Fabian von Bellingshausen, sponsored by Russia, first spotted solid ice that was likely an ice shelf attached to land. Amazingly, just three days later, a British naval officer, Edward Bransfield, also spotted the Antarctic peninsula. In 1821, John Davis, an American explorer and seal hunter, stepped foot on the actual continent. Almost 100 years later, there was a heated competition to be the first to arrive at the South Pole. The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen did so on December 14, 1911. Just over a month later, a British explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, also reached the South Pole. Sadly, he and his party perished during their return journey.
There were scientific expeditions and military operations (and associated territorial claims) sponsored by various countries over the ensuing years and there was particular concern about the status of Antarctica during the early years of the Cold War. During the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, twelve countries (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States) began large-scale scientific investigation, establishing 55 research stations. The American President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, formerly the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War II, convened a conference in 1958 of those twelve countries to establish a treaty for the governance of Antarctica. After sixty sessions and a high-level diplomatic conference, on December 1, 1959, those twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty. Today, the treaty has 56 parties to it. Under the treaty, the continent is preserved for non-military scientific pursuits. No military activity is allowed. The treaty put all territorial claims on hold and bound its parties indefinitely with a review after 30 years. The Madrid Protocol, adopted in 1991, designated the continent as a natural reserve and prohibited mining. The boundary of the treaty area is latitude 60 degrees south with everything south of that latitude in the Antarctic Treaty Area. Despite the treaty prohibiting all territorial claims, in fall 2023, the country of Iran, neither a consultative nor a non-consultative member of the Antarctic Treaty, announced a plan to raise its flag in Antartica and establish a scientific base. Keep your eyes open for further developments!
There are numerous permanent research stations in Antarctica, including the southernmost station, Amundsen-Scott South Pole. Operated by the United States, it boasts a location with a balmy mean average temperature of minus 49 degrees Celsius. (For an interesting movie about a chef who works in the glamorous locale of the Palais de l’Élysée, Paris (the official home of the President of France) and the less than glamorous location of a French research station in Antarctica, check out Haute Cuisine from 2012.)
If you are interested in working in Antarctica and aren’t a scientist, you might consider working at the “Penguin Post Office”, part of Port Lockroy, a British base. The Penguin Post Office is the southernmost post office in the world and, surprisingly, it receives close to 80,000 postcards and letters each year, mostly from cruise ship passengers. In addition to postal duties, the staff are responsible for counting the 1,500 or so gentoo penguins that live in a colony at Port Lockroy.
Although most supplies to Antarctica arrive via ship, military plane or small planes with skis for landing gear, in November 2023, a Norse Atlantic Airways 787 Dreamliner became one of the few commercial aircraft to land on the continent of Antarctica. Loaded with personnel headed for Norway’s Troll Research Station in Antarctica, the plane left Oslo; traveled for 12 hours, stopping in Cape Town, South Africa; and then continued on for five more hours to Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. A good illustration of just how far south Antarctica is, especially from Norway!