Territorial Claims by Countries in Antarctica 2022 Including Argentina

Famously known as the ‘Great White Continent’ or ‘The Ice’, Antarctica was formerly called ‘Terra Australis’. It was discovered by Roald Amundsen on December 14, 1911, who was an explorer from Norway. The word Antarctica is derived from the Latin word ‘Antarcticus’ which means opposite to the North. Antarctica has a solid ice sheet that lies over land and melts into icebergs and ice shelves in the warmer months.

Argentina is one of the countries that has a provincial claim over it the ‘Argentine Antarctica region’. There isn’t any permanent population on the continent and has a minimum of 1000 research scientists who visit every year. The Transantarctic Mountains divide the continent into East and West Antarctica. There are freshwater and saline rivers and lakes across the icy continent. The region has ice sheets, icebergs and ice shelves floating all year round.

Countries including Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Chile, France and Norway have made territorial claims on Antarctica. These countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 and have specific regions within to conduct research on the environment. Antarctica is placed around the South Pole and is encircled by the Southern Sea. Known as ‘the frozen continent’, it is the coldest and ranked fifth largest in the World. About 87% ice of in the world is present in Antarctica. The total area is about 14.2 million Km2. 

National Claims in Antarctica Include Australia and New Zealand

The 1959 Antarctica Treaty was signed and agreed upon by twelve countries from which only seven countries including Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand claimed the Antarctic territories. The different territories claimed are listed as follows. 

 The important aspects of the Antarctica Treaty are 

• Zero mining activity to prevail
• Scientific research shall be allowed freely
• Neither disposing of any radioactive waste in Antarctica nor conducting any nuclear activity
• Only peaceful scientific research is to be carried out without any testing of weapons or military activities. 

The other countries that showed interest in nationalising territories within Antarctica are Russia, the United States, Peru, South Africa, and Brazil.

 Geography of Antarctica

With a coastline of about 18,000 Km, the Antarctic continent is characterised by the presence of valleys, lakes, and rivers with huge icebergs and glaciers. Onyx is the largest river, and Vostok is the biggest lake on the continent. The ‘Antarctic Ice Sheet’, which measures about 1.9 km, covers most of the continent. Some island areas that belong to the Antarctic plate are

• Hear Island and Mcdonald islands which are claimed by Australia
• Bouvet Island, claimed by Norway
• Prince Edward Island, claimed by South Africa
• French Southern islands and Antarctic lands, claimed by France.

 A majority of the islands are volcanic, and Mount Erebus is one active volcano that erupts about ten times daily. The highest point in the continent is called ‘Vinson Massif’ at about 4,892 m. 

The Climate of Antarctica 

The terribly cold and dry temperatures prevailing in the Antarctic continent make it extremely difficult for Human life to survive and flourish. Hence Humans visit the polar region only for shorter durations. Even though France was the first to claim regions in the super cold continent, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among the other countries, only started claiming in the1900’s. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -89.20C naturally in 1983 on the earth in Antarctica. The Vostok station belonging to Russia recorded this temperature. 

In general minimum temperatures of -800C towards the inland and maximum temperatures of 100C towards the coast have been recorded. There is very little precipitation in the ‘Polar desert’, with most of it in the snow form. The Antarctic Peninsula has been subjected to quick warming temperatures over the last two decades due to climate change and global warming.  

Biodiversity of Antarctica

The Antarctica Krill is a crustacean that lives and breeds in the Southern Ocean. It serves as food for the other sea animals like blue whales, fur seals, sea cucumbers, ice fish, squids, etc., that are also found there. Fur seals have been hunted in Antarctica by sailors for years for their pelt. The leopard seals are the prominent predators living in the Antarctic waters. There are about 40 bird species found in Antarctica that either live or breed there. Penguins, gulls, petrels, etc., are some of the birds found amongst whom the Emperor Penguins and the Adelie Penguins breed freely. Many species of fungi and cyanobacteria are also found there. Plant species found include liverworts, mosses, bluegrass, etc. Bacterial species like extremophiles have been found in the deep waters too. 

Conclusion

The Antarctica treaty of 1959 has a protective plan for the continent of Antarctica which prohibits any nuclear testing, weapons testing or any harmful experiments from being carried out. This is to protect biodiversity and control the ice sheet from melting. Up until 2021, 54 different countries have agreed on the treaty. There are about 70 research stations situated in different locations in Antarctica from different nations. Scientists from 29 countries live semi-permanently there for research purposes like geology and oceanography.