Geography. Козлова Е.П. - 71 стр.

14.3 Read and translate the text

Antarctica

      Antarctica, fifth in size among the world’s continent, lies concentrically about the
South Pole, with a landmass almost wholly covered by a vast ice sheet. The area of the
continent is about 14,200,000 square kilometers. The southern portions of the Atlantic,
Indian and Pacific oceans form the Antarctic ocean around Antarctica.
      Antarctica is a compact, mountainous plateau having only three pronounced
irregularities along the coastline: the Weddell Sea facing the Atlantic; the Antarctic
(Palmer) Peninsula thrust northward in the direction of Cape Horn to latitude 630; and
farther west the deep indentation of Ross Sea, which supports on its inner reaches a
broad expanse of enduring shelf called ‘Ross Barrier’. This is the largest area of
persistent, water-born ice, with dimensions of about 300 by 500 miles. From place to
place huge glaciers, tongues of inland ice, extend downward through rocky, steep-
sided coastal valleys from the interior high plateau to the sea.
      All of Antarctica, save a scattering of high, angular peaks and negligible,
discontinuous tracts of coastal lowland is covered with a deep mantel of enduring ice
and snow. It is estimated that 90 per cent of the world’s ice is concentrated in this
single, enormous expanse. Most of it stands at high altitude, averaging more than 6,000
feet above the sea. The thickness of the ice cap has been seismically measured to
average about 8,000 feet.
      Antarctica is a continent almost devoid of lakes, without rivers, marshes, having
no soil, no forests, no grasslands, nor any deserts of the sort found in milder latitudes.
Its fauna are creatures of the sea, such as certain varieties of whales, giant Weddel seal,
flying birds like the albatross, petrel, etc. The most prominent inhabitant of Antarctica
is the penguin. A flightless bird, it lives on the pack ice and in the oceans around
Antarctica, and breeds on the land or ice surfaces along the coast. Most typical are the
Adelie and emperor penguins. Plant life includes over a hundred species of lichens and
mosses found on bare rock areas along the coast. Algae often color the snow of coastal
tracts and are found in a few freshwater lakes.
      The size, latitude, altitude and comparative compactness of Antarctica, the height
and steepness of its coastal margins, the broad embayments of Ross Sea and Weddell
Sea, and the tapering projection of a single peninsula, all surrounded by the unfrozen
sea, combine to establish the essential climatic character of the South Polar ice cap.
      Antarctic weather may be described as a combination of very cold air, high winds,
and blowing snow. Antarctica’s coldest temperatures often reach –730 C. The almost
constant wind intensifies the cold. The snow that falls never melts and the pressure
caused by the enormous weight of the snow turns it to ice. Despite the large amounts of
ice and snow that cover the continent, geographers regard Antarctica as desert because
it receives little precipitation.
      Antarctica was a central part of the former supercontinent Gondwanaland. As
Gondwanaland broke apart to form the continents of the southern hemisphere,
Antarctica drifted from the tropical zone to its present polar position. Within the
mountains are found many coal deposits and fossil remains related to the earlier
tropical climate of Antarctica.
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