The arctic and Antarctic polar regions might look alike from outer space but they are fundamentally different for that reason. The northern ice cap, on the left, floats on the arctic sea and is only 3 to 4 metres thick whereas the Antarctic ice cap, on the right, is frozen all the way down to the land base that supports it. This has allowed ice to accumulate to more than 4000 meters thick in some places. The Antarctic is consequently much colder than the Arctic. It holds 90% of all the ice on earth. If all that ice melted, the oceans would rise by 80 meters drowning all of the world's sea ports.. That's not at all comparable to the thin sheet of permanent ice floating in the Arctic.

The polar ice caps were formed only about 20 million years ago which is relatively recent considering the earth's age of about 4.5 billion years. This means that the structure and composition of the Antarctic continent under the ice is very similar to the other continents. The occurrence of valuable minerals should not be significantly different in Antarctica than in the other six continents. The discovery of coal deposits bearing fossils of Permian age close to the South Pole confirms that Antarctica was covered with abundant vegetation 250 million years ago before Pangaea broke up. The same life forms were present here as elsewhere. Consequently, the possibility of finding oil in Antarctica cannot be ruled out.

This is what Antarctica would look like without its icy mantle. Only half of its 14 million sq. km rise above sea level. The ice cover varies between 2000 to 3000 meters thick on the large eastern part and exceeds 4000 meters in the west where its great weight has submerged the land between what appears here as islands.

All this ice moves slowly down to the sea. The ice moving outwards in the Weddell and Ross seas can be more than 1000 meters thick where it is still attached to the sea bottom but it melts as it advances forming a floating ice shelf that is still a couple of hundred meters thick where it breaks off in huge chunks to form icebergs.

Dense cold water from the melting ice plunges rapidly under warmer deep water that moves up to the surface to replace it where it is cooled and diluted plunging in its turn under the surrounding warmer surface water.

Because of these currents and more particularly the upwelling of deep water rich in phosphates, nitrates and minerals, the turbulent Antarctic surface waters, exposed to long hours of daylight in summer, produce immense growths of phytoplankton and algal blooms that form the basis of a highly productive food chain of which krill is a central intermediate on which a wide variety of species feed.

Biological productivity drops sharply however when the sun is low or behind the horizon between April and July. Then, seasonal floating pack ice extends out to 100 kms around the continent but it rarely exceeds three meters and it melts in October when algal blooms begin a new frantic explosion of life.

This overall picture is complicated by winds. Westerly circumpolar winds drive massive amounts of water from west to east constantly all around Antarctica up to about 40% of latitude. Further south however, easterly winds cause a narrow band of east to west currents close to the continent in the vicinity of the Weddell and Ross seas. All this is further complicated by sudden katabaric winds of heavy cold air that rushes down the slope from the 3000 meter centre of the continent to sea level, sometimes with speeds of 200 kph.

All this to say that Antarctica is definitively not the most hospitable place on earth for humans! That explains why exploration of the Antarctic came so late. Sources abound on Antarctic exploration so I'll just list the principal milestones.

- 1773 British James Cook reaches latitude 71°10’ south. He was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle and to explore the edge of the pack ice.
- 1819 Russian Bellingshausen charted South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and crossed the Antarctic Circle twice.
- 1820 Sealers of many nations sighted the South Shetland Islands and other parts of the Antarctic Peninsula,
- 1823 British James Weddell explores Weddell Sea and sets a new farthest-south record of latitude 74° south.
- 1838-1843 French Dumont d’Urville discovered part of the Antarctic Peninsula and part of the East Antarctica coast. American Charles Wilkes explores the coast of Wilkes Land. British James Clark Ross discovers the Ross Sea and reaches a new record latitude of 78° south.
- 1870-1890 Norwegian, British, Scottish Belgian and German whalers explore the Antarctic peninsula.
- 1908 British Ernest Shackleton attains a new farthest-south record but fails to reach the South Pole. He returned with samples of coal confirming that Antarctica had once been semitropical.
- 1911 Norwegian Roald Amundsen arrived at the pole on December 14 returned safely back at their base the following month.
- 1912 American Scott reached the pole on January 17, 1912, five weeks after the Norwegian Amundsen. Scott and his party died on the return journey.
- 1915 Shackleton's ship was trapped by the ice of Weddell sea for 10 months before sinking. Shackleton reaches South Georgia in a lifeboat and returned to save his men 3 months later.
- 1929 Byrd flies to the South Pole and back from the Ross Ice Shelf.

Discovery and exploration led to territorial claims by the British around the peninsula in 1908, around the Ross Ice Shelf in 1923 (transferred to New Zealand) and in East Antarctica in 1933 (transferred to Australia). In 1924 France claimed Adelie Land and in 1933 Norway claimed Queen Maud Land. In 1943, Argentina and Chile lodged rival claims to the peninsula, already claimed by the British.

The United States does not recognise the territorial claims of these seven nations but it made no claim of its own, The USA was a late comer in the exploration of Antarctica but it must be said that it deployed more effort of scientific research in the Antarctic than the seven others together.

During the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1967, 5000 scientists and staff from twelve nations carried out research on geology, seismology, glaciology,oceanography, meteorology and upper atmosphere physics in 49 Antarctic research stations. Co-operation between these scientists led to the drafting of the Antarctic Treaty signed by the seven claiming countries and eventually by 36 other states 27 of them with only a consultative status. The treaty side-steps the claims problem but it does set important rules excluding the military use of Antarctica and promoting conservation and shared scientific research. This led to a number of other conventions protecting life and the environment in the Antarctic in 1972, 1980, 1991 and in 1994.

This sounds almost too good to be true, as if reason had prevailed over expansionist ambitions and plain old fashioned greed. I have not surveyed all seven claiming states but I did ask some people in the streets of Argentina and Chile if they thought that Antarctica should become a "commons" managed for the best interest of all mankind. The reaction was almost unanimous in both countries to the effect that Antarctica was "an integral part of our national territory that should be defended to the death" by each and every true patriot (of Argentina and of Chile). We know where the British stand, they went to war and sacrificed lives in 1965 not for the sheepherders of the Falklands but to gamble on the peninsula's mineral or petroleum potential (unless it was only to bolster the British pride which is even more stupid).

Fortunately, it is generally accepted by believers that penguins do not have souls. Can you imagine the mess that would result if the American Christian fundamentalists discovered they had a mission to bring the true faith and democracy to the seals and penguins of Antarctica! And how rich the right-wing military-industrial establishment would get in the process?

Joking aside, the probability of finding oil in Antarctica is not negligible but it has not happened yet so the penguins are safe for the time being. They will however be more and more pestered by tourists like me attracted by the incredible beauty of this lost continent.

One of the first ships to offer Antarctic cruises for tourists, the Lindblad Explorer, was in port when I visited Ushuaia in 1994. I watched it tied up at the main pier and wondered what it would be like to follow in the footsteps (sic) of the great explorers. It was a dream, out of reach at 5000 dollars for the cheapest berth.

Ten years later, competition from underemployed Russian icebreakers had brought the price down to the 3500 $ price range. Still expensive, but a superb present to give myself for my seventieth birthday.

The cruise on Quark Expeditions' M/V Orlova was superbly organised and well worth the price. Three distinct groups of professionals, the ship's crew (Russian), the catering staff and the expedition staff saw to the satisfaction of our every need. The blue trail shows our route. We spent two days crossing the Drake Passage on the way south, five days exploring the islands and the continent by zodiac and two more days getting back to Ushuaia. I can wholeheartedly recommend this cruise to all who can afford it.

I actually visited only a very small portion of the coast but it is technically correct to say that I have been in Antarctica and to colour the whole continent yellow as having been visited once on my world map of visited countries.