Discovered!
Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen led voyages to explore the southern oceans and land masses. In 1819, Bellingshausen led a two-ship expedition during the Antarctic summer,November to February. On January 28, 1820, his expedition discovered the Antarctic mainland, and Bellingshausen became one of the first people to see Antarctica. Use the following link to get the complete story:
http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/exploration/antarctic.html
The land mass of Antarctica is difficult to map due to the immense ice sheet that covers the entire continent. NASA and many Antarctic exploration endeavors from a variety of different countries have been collecting data in this area for several decades. The approximate land mass area of Antarctica is 13.8 million km2 , only 0.32% of that landmass is free of snow and ice, the rest is covered by a thick ice sheet year round making the average elevation on Antarctica the highest of any continent. Additionally, sea ice that forms in the winter months can extend from the continent for a total area of 20 million km2. There is more sea ice than continental land mass in the winter months. If the ice sheets on Antarctica were to melt, it would look more like a series of islands grouped together than a continent. The blue areas shown in the map below would be underwater year round. In contrast, the dark red areas correspond to mountain peaks where,ironically, there is less snow and ice due to the high winds that strip the peaks of new snowfall each year not allowing it to accumulate as it does at lower elevations.
Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen led voyages to explore the southern oceans and land masses. In 1819, Bellingshausen led a two-ship expedition during the Antarctic summer,November to February. On January 28, 1820, his expedition discovered the Antarctic mainland, and Bellingshausen became one of the first people to see Antarctica. Use the following link to get the complete story:
http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/exploration/antarctic.html
The land mass of Antarctica is difficult to map due to the immense ice sheet that covers the entire continent. NASA and many Antarctic exploration endeavors from a variety of different countries have been collecting data in this area for several decades. The approximate land mass area of Antarctica is 13.8 million km2 , only 0.32% of that landmass is free of snow and ice, the rest is covered by a thick ice sheet year round making the average elevation on Antarctica the highest of any continent. Additionally, sea ice that forms in the winter months can extend from the continent for a total area of 20 million km2. There is more sea ice than continental land mass in the winter months. If the ice sheets on Antarctica were to melt, it would look more like a series of islands grouped together than a continent. The blue areas shown in the map below would be underwater year round. In contrast, the dark red areas correspond to mountain peaks where,ironically, there is less snow and ice due to the high winds that strip the peaks of new snowfall each year not allowing it to accumulate as it does at lower elevations.