Why Antarctica Is Still Unexplored | Unveiled

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Why Antarctica is Still Unexplored</h4>

The most mysterious place on Earth, you either have to be rich, be a specific and dedicated scientist, or be very lucky to go to Antarctica. It’s one of the most exciting locations in the world for research, but these epic landscapes aren’t exactly welcoming. So just what is it that keeps this place so remote and wild?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; why is Antarctica still unexplored?

To start, there are places in Antarctica that actually aren’t unexplored – at least, relative to the rest of the continent. Having divided it into territories, humans have built a number of research bases over the years, and whaling outposts have existed there for more than a century - although they never lasted long. But most of the more permanent places in Antarctica have something in common: they’re all on the coast. Which makes sense, as the coast is the easiest part to access since you can sail right up to it in the summer… and it’s also the most temperate because it’s exposed to the much warmer air of the open ocean. In the Antarctic summer, it can even be as high as 50 degrees Fahrenheit along the coast. There are still extreme temperature drops compared to other places on Earth… but for research, it’s ideal. You get to experience at least a part of Antarctica in a much safer way, even if there is still always the risk of being stuck there over winter. 

The coast is also where you’ll go if you’re fortunate enough to be traveling on an Antarctic cruise. Not all cruise passengers make landfall, in order to better protect the environment... but many do at least get to see this mostly unknown realm. The largest human settlement on Antarctica, McMurdo Station on Ross Island, averages a population of about a thousand in the summer. Again, primarily, it’s a scientific research base, and is reasonably well established. By comparison, however, only a few hundred people have ever gone to the South Pole itself overland, which goes to show just how unstudied and underexplored the enigmatic, Antarctic interior still is. Even with modern advancements, reaching the South Pole remains an extremely dangerous endeavor and one of the most grueling things a person can do. Expeditions can take around a month to complete, or considerably more. The journey is so difficult, in fact, that more people have been to space than have completed a land trek to the South Pole. Some companies do now offer tourists the opportunity to fly to the South Pole, and there is a research station there... but the vast lands between the pole and the coast are mostly an uncharted abyss.

So, again, just what is it that makes the interior so unforgiving? And why is it that still so few people have tried or succeeded in taming Antarctica?

Of course, the temperature is key. At the South Pole, in the very heart of Antarctica, the average summer temperatures are minus-18 degrees Fahrenheit, dropping to minus-60 on average in the winter. This makes it generally colder there than it is in most of Siberia. But, unlike with Antarctica, there are large cities in Siberia, and transport links to supply the people who live there. Novosibirsk is the region’s biggest city and is home to a huge 1.6 million people. Antarctica, of course, has nothing like this. Even Siberia, then - the world’s go-to poster place for stereotypically extreme isolation - is more habitable. At the South Pole, the only real trace of humans you’ll find is the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station which, like McMurdo, is operated primarily by the United States. A base in some form has existed here since 1956, though it’s been rebuilt and moved various times as technology has developed and we’re better able to withstand the conditions. Nevertheless, for those posted here, it’s… quite a lonely place.

For decades, the station existed primarily beneath a large, geodesic dome, which then contained smaller buildings, keeping out the worst of the wind and snow. But, and as further evidence of the extreme weather, even the dome didn’t last. It was noticeably deteriorating by 1988, when part of the foundations cracked, which is only thirteen years after it had been originally built. And today, the dome’s no longer there, as the current, elevated station was built to replace it in the late 2010s. It’s now designed to be continually raised in line with rising snow levels... although it still isn’t expected that the current iteration of the South Pole Station will last forever, either. 

It’s no coincidence that the habitats that are built for humans to survive in the Antarctic have a lot in common with hypothetical space bases. Both environments are just so, so extreme. As well as that, however, much of the research that’s being conducted in Antarctica is to do with outer space. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which also hosts other neutrino experiments. Furthermore, the South Pole base has before been home to many instruments that aim to study in detail the cosmic microwave background – the universal residue of the Big Bang.  

These habitats don’t only need to withstand extreme temperatures, however. And, arguably, if you have enough energy, keeping small buildings warm enough to live in isn’t actually that difficult. What perhaps poses a bigger issue overall is the wind. Antarctica has been variously described as the windiest place on Earth. In the winter, wind speeds regularly go beyond 100 miles per hour, which makes the conditions similar to those in a category 2 hurricane. Combined with the low temperatures, it’s the wind which makes things feel even colder, and which creates real hazards such as massive snow drifts - especially in the dark, winter night that lasts for months. The current South Pole station IS designed to try to minimize snow drifts, which it’s effective at doing. But one day it’s expected that the snow will get so high that yet another new station will need to be built. And, actually, this isn’t only an inland problem, What are known as the Katabatic Winds cause huge storms and waves along the Antarctic shorelines. Sometimes they can hit 200 miles per hour, or more.

So there’s the cold and the wind but, finally, there’s also the terrain. Antarctica isn’t made entirely of ice, it’s a huge, mountainous landmass covered in an ice sheet. The tallest mountain in Antarctica is Vinson Massif, the peak of which is more than 16,000 feet above sea level. Vinson Massif isn’t that far inland, relatively speaking, but climbing it’s no easy feat. Nor is climbing any of the mountains that you might encounter here. And, while you might picture an Antarctic expedition as just plodding along endless, icy plains… the reality is that, really, any walking route across this place will include multiple treacherous mountain passes.

In short, everything in Antarctica seems designed to be hostile to life. The most famous creature living on Antarctica, the penguin, also sticks to the coast, primarily hunting fish in the ocean. Penguins do journey inland annually to breed… but, again, this is a trip that’s extremely dangerous for them. And these are creatures that have specifically adapted to live in the environment. Humans, by contrast, just aren’t cut out for it.

But, what do you think? Should we be braving the wilderness of Antarctica in the name of further exploration and discovery? Or is it all just too dangerous to be truly worthwhile?

There are lots of scientific reasons why we need to maintain a small presence on this mysterious land. As well as the way that Antarctica factors into modern space research - including how it could be used to test out future off-Earth living strategies - it’s also seen by many as the last great frontier on our own planet. A mostly untouched, almost pristine vista of potentially immeasurable resource material, including as a window into the health of Earth, as a whole.

Antarctica is ultimately so dangerous that even the habitats we’ve got at the South Pole right now won’t last long. In constant danger of being shut off from the rest of tlhe world, and a month’s journey on foot through sub-zero conditions, the inland regions are perhaps the most alien place in our world. And that’s why Antarctica is still unexplored.