Antarctica Weather: Another 'Record' to add to the Early Explorers

Mawson and the other early Antarctic explorers started a series of weather reports which are being continued today. These researchers found that stronger westerly winds in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, fueled primarily by human-induced climate change, were responsible for the dramatic summer warming that led to the retreat and collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf.

The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC), based in Hobart, Tasmania provides a focus for Australia's national effort to understand the variability of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and their role in Australia's future.

Anyone who is interested in history, exploration, or the psychology of men in extreme conditions will immensely enjoy this treasure. Antarctica as a continent is somewhat specific in its recent temperature history, for unlike all other continents, it has warmed very little over the past half-century.

Many men – and some women – have pitted their strength and wit against the snow and ice of the southern continent, but three names stand out in the history of Antarctic exploration: Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Douglas Mawson

Perhaps you have no intentions of going there, but just need facts about Antarctic history of exploration, nature and wildlife. The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The bottom of this ice pack may be over 100,000 years old and holds a record (layer by layer) of the history of earth with each layer.

The history of Antarctica is one of exploration, deprivation and danger. Much of the history of human interaction with Antarctica centers around the search for seal pelts.