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Is there life in Antarctica? Detailed answer Directory / Big encyclopedia. Questions for quiz and self-education Did you know? Is there life in Antarctica? Antarctica is the name given to the vast region adjacent to the South Pole. It includes Antarctica - the fifth largest of the earth's continents, slightly smaller than Europe and the United States combined. This continent is the coldest and dullest part of the Earth's surface. It is surrounded on all sides by the most severe seas on the planet. Strong, harsh winds and snowstorms always rage on it, and its entire territory is covered with eternal snow and ice. It is so cold there that the whole mainland is a huge lifeless desert. What is under the ice sheets of Antarctica? It is difficult to say, because it is still too poorly understood. The researchers managed to find deposits of coal and small veins of valuable minerals. However, their extraction is so difficult and expensive that they remain intact. Of the plants, only the most primitive forms exist there: mosses, lichens, lower fungi and algae, which have no nutritional value. Therefore, only such animals and birds live there that can get food from the sea. Among the birds, skuas, polar gulls and several varieties of penguins should be mentioned. Penguins live and lay their eggs on the coast of the continent. Their wings are poorly developed and therefore penguins cannot fly, but they swim well. Seals and whales live in Antarctic waters. Whaling is the only industry that thrives in the Antarctic regions. At one time, it reached such proportions that international agreements were required to put the capture of whales under control and thereby prevent their complete destruction. Author: Likum A. Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia: How is ocean depth measured? Scientists who study the sea are called oceanographers. Since the depths of the ocean are dark and cold, scientists don't know much about them. Some parts of the ocean floor were studied only through the windows of research submarines and through the eyepieces of bathyscaphes made specifically for studying the depths of the sea, but still this information is clearly not enough. One of the problems of interest to oceanographers is the depth of the ocean. Measuring it is called "listening to depth". In the old days, measurement was done using a rope with a load tied to it, which was lowered into the water. Later, very thin wire was used for this, such as the one from which piano strings are made. Today, scientists can get a much more accurate idea of the depth of the ocean floor with a single invention called an echo sounder. It uses echo to study the ocean floor. A device installed on board the ship sends a sound signal. Sound travels through the water at a speed of about one mile per second. It is reflected from the bottom and caught on the way back by a special device. The deeper the water, the longer it takes for the echo to reach the side of the ship. A modern echo sounder sends ultrasonic waves to the bottom. Then the instruments register the echo in the form of a black line on a sheet of special paper. Usually this paper contains the decoding of these signs in fathoms (a fathom is 1,8 meters). With the help of an echo sounder, you can easily determine the depth of the sea. But the device can do more than just that. He can draw a detailed line of the seabed under the ship by listening to the bottom every few meters along the ship's course. If a ship passes over a submarine, the echo sounder registers its exact shape. If the bottom is flat, the echo sounder will depict it the same way. The echo sounder will not miss even a small unevenness of the bottom less than a meter high!
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