Happy Antarctica Day!
Happy Antarctica Day 2019!
Today the Antarctic Treaty is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
Every year since 2015 the UKPN have organised an outreach project – the Antarctica Day Flags Initiative – with the aim to spread the word about this success story for world-wide collaboration and to hope its message and values inspires future generations.
We asked participating schools to create a flag for Antarctica (as it is without an official flag) which they believe symbolises this continent.
The flags are then sent to us here at UKPN, who pair flags from schools with researchers and station staff that are heading down to Antarctica for the Austral Summer (November-January). The flags are then transported all the way to Antarctica with these “flag bearers”, and proof of travel with a certificate and photos of their journey will be sent to the schools upon the flag bearers’ return.
For more information about our Antarctic Flags initiative, please visit: https://britishantarcticterritory.org.uk/blog-uk-polar-network-antarctic-flags/ or contact us at antarctica-day@polarnetwork.org
#AntarcticaDay2019_UKPN #PolarOutreach #AntarcticFlags
Seals of Antarctica
It is only two days left before the Antarctica day and today we want to share beautiful pictures of most amusing marine mammals by talented wildlife photographer Stas Zakharov: the Antarctica seals. There are 6 species of seals in Antarctica, including Antarctic Fur Seals, Leopard Seals, Ross Seals, Crabeater Seals and Weddell Seals, and these 6 species apparently make up the majority of all seals on earth.
Weddell seals Leptonychotes weddellii at the Lemaire Channel
Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella, South Shetland Islands
Check out our Instagram;Twitter and Facebook for more posts and definitely check out @stas_zakharov_photo for more seals!
The race to the pole - glance into history of Antarctic exploration
Today's #AntarcticaDay2019_UKPN post features history of exploration of the South Pole - fascinating and dramatic story of rivalry between the two expeditions.
"I am just going outside and I may be some time - he went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since” From Scott’s diaries, 1912
Amundsen's South Pole expedition. Image from: https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/8-5_amundsens_group_at_pole_flag_flying1.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=780
Beginning of the 20th century was an era of polar exploration also known as Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. One of the key figures in the world’s history of polar exploration undoubtedly is Roald Amundsen who first reached the South Pole by land in 1911 and also led the first expedition that first reached the North Pole by air in 1926 (on-board the airship Norge). Amundsen and Oscar Wisting were the first men to have reached both geographical poles. But behind this simple date stands complicated and dramatic history of numerous attempts to be the first to reach the center of either hemispheres, history that carried away lives of many noble researchers, including Robert Falcon Scott's entire party who died on their return journey from the South Pole where they found Norwegian flag deployed 34 days before Scott’s expedition arrival. The rivalry between British and Norwegian expeditions, led by Scott and Amundsen respectively, is perhaps one of the most dramatic events in the history of discoveries.
Read more about the race to the pole, details and differences between the two expeditions at:
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/south_approaches_01.shtml
- https://discoveringantarctica.org.uk/science-and-exploration/journey-south/the-race-to-the-pole/
- https://birdinflight.com/inspiration/experience/scott-vs-amundsen-history-conquest-south-pole.html
Antarctica wildlife photos
Today for #AntarcticaDay2019_UKPN campaign we wanted to share some beautiful images of perhaps most iconic representatives of Antarctic fauna: penguins.
Stay tuned and follow us on Instagram;Twitter and Facebook for more posts, news and photos!
Chinstrap penguin, Hope point, Antarctic peninsula. Photo credits Dmitry Frey
King penguins and RV Vavilov near South Georgia Island. Photo credits Dmitry Frey
Antarctica Day 2019
Antarctica Day is celebrated on the 1st of December every year since 2010, when it was established to commemorate the signature of the Antarctic Treaty on 1st December 1959.
Antarctica Day was initiated by the Foundation for the Good Governance of International Spaces (www.ourspaces.org.uk) with aims of building global awareness of this landmark institution, and celebrating this milestone of peace in our civilization with hope and inspiration for future generations.
Flag of the Antarctic Treaty, source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Flag_of_the_Antarctic_Treaty.svg/400px-Flag_of_the_Antarctic_Treaty.svg.png
Antarctica Day 2019 will mark the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic treaty. To celebrate this we launch the #AntarcticaDay2019_UKPN media campaign with a series of historic overview posts, photos and insights from current fieldwork in Antarctica.
Follow us on Instagram: @ukpolarnetwork;Twitter: @UKPolarNetwork and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukpolarnetwork/ for more updates!
