Latest Extreme points of Earth Stories
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The quest to set foot on the North Pole began in the early 1800s but the realization of that quest had to wait nearly 100 years to occur. The US Navy engineer, Robert Peary, claimed (and not without more than a little controversy) to have reached the Pole on April 6, 1909. One of the most daunting obstacles in reaching the hometown of Mr. and Mrs. Claus is the ocean it is located in. Unlike the South Pole, the North Pole rests upon...
National Science Foundation A century after Western explorers first crossed the dangerous landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have successfully deployed a self-guided robot that uses ground-penetrating radar to map deadly crevasses hidden in ice-covered terrains. Deployment of the robot--dubbed Yeti--could make Arctic and Antarctic explorations safer by revealing unseen fissures buried beneath ice and snow that could...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online NASA is best known for its explorations away from this planet, but the US space agency has a whole other program aimed at investigating the depths of this planet. One NASA researcher from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California joined up with an international Antarctic expedition last month to try and explore an unexplored aquatic environment on Earth. Alberto Behar used a small robotic sub about the size of a baseball...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online February 27 is International Polar Bear Day, sponsored and led by Polar Bear International (PBI). PBI is an advocacy group dedicated to research, education and action to protect the world's polar bear populations from extinction. PBI started International Polar Bear day to raise awareness of the bear's plight, and the damage that humans are inflicting with global warming. This year, PBI invites the public to join in by making Feb. 27...
[WATCH VIDEO: Cold Journey Team - Not Going Anywhere] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An ambitious expedition to become the first human to walk across Antarctica during the winter has ended for one brave adventurer. Sixty-eight-year-old Sir Ranulph “Ran” Fiennes, the “World’s Greatest Living Explorer,” as dubbed by Guinness World Records, has bowed out of his bid to walk more than 2,000 miles across the frozen wasteland due to injury. The BBC...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Update 1 (January 29, 2013): A National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research team has successfully drilled through 2,600 feet of ice in Antarctica on January 28 to reach subglacial Lake Whillans. Just a day later and the team said they have pulled up the first water and sediment samples from the depths of the under-ice lake that have been isolated for thousands of years. The Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research...
Just back from a grueling effort in Antarctica, Eric Larsen continues his efforts to demonstrate how people can use a bicycle to change lives. Boulder, CO (PRWEB) January 11, 2013 Leaving the edge of the Antarctic continent, Hercules Inlet, on Dec. 20, 2012, polar adventurer Eric Larsen started pedaling his Surly Moonlander ‘Fat Bike’ loaded down with 100 pounds of gear in an attempt to complete the Cycle South expedition, a first ever bicycle traverse of Antarctica to the Geographic...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Ranulph “Ran” Fiennes, dubbed by Guinness as “the world’s greatest living explorer,” set sail today for the Antarctic, leading a team of adventurers who want to be the first to cross the vast continent during winter. Fiennes has described the expedition as a trip into the unknown with no chance of rescue if the trek goes awry. Fiennes and crew left Cape Town, South Africa early Monday, cheered off by spectators and a...
[Watch Video: Professor Martin Siegert Calls Off Lake Ellsworth Project] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An ambitious expedition to search for life in one of the world’s most remote regions has ended in failure early Christmas morning. Team members from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) called off a project to drill through two miles of Antarctica’s ice sheet to reach Lake Ellsworth due to problems linking boreholes in the ice. With winter fast...
NEWCASTLE, England, December 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Stag and Hen Company Launch Their Search for the First Stag Group to Make it to the North Pole Last Night of Freedom, based near Newcastle, have this week launched an innovative new weekend expedition to the North Pole. This trip will appeal to only the most extravagant and adventurous of stags, looking to completely break the mould on their weekend with the boys. They have now launched a hunt for a group of guys who...
Latest Extreme points of Earth Reference Libraries
Antarctica is the Earths southernmost continent; it contains the geographic South Pole. It’s situated in the Antarctic area of the Southern Hemisphere, almost completely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is bordered by the Southern Ocean. It’s the fifth-largest continent at 5.4 million sq miles. On average, it is the driest, coldest, and windiest continent as well as having the highest average elevation of all the continents. Considered a desert, the annual precipitation is only 8...
The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is a U.S. research facility based at the South Pole, in Antarctica. It is the southernmost continually inhabited place on the planet. Its name honors Roald Amundsen who reached the South Pole in December 1911, and Robert F. Scott who reached the South Pole in January 1912. The station was constructed in 1956 to support the International Geophysical Year in 1957. It has been continuously occupied since then. It currently lies within 330 feet of the...
Arctic Circle -- The Arctic (Land of the Midnight Sun) is the area around the earth's North Pole while antarctic is in South Pole. It includes parts of Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Lapland and Svalbard as well as the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. Everything north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south of this circle is the Northern Temperate Zone. This is the parallel of...
