The Globalist Quiz

Scaling the South Pole The weekly quiz is provided by the Globalist, a daily online feature service that covers issues and trends in globalization. The nonpartisan organization provides commercial services and nonprofit educational features.

Question

Antarctica is the world’s fifth-largest continent and home to the coldest place on earth. One key indicator of global warming is melting ice on both the North and South poles. In that context, we wonder: What is the current elevation of the South Pole?

Answer

A. Sea level B. 8,200 feet C. 9,200 feet D. 16,100 feet

A Sea level is not

correct: It is the North Pole’s elevation, not the South Pole’s, that lies roughly at sea level. Sea level is used as the world’s “zero” height for elevations. The geographic North Pole falls within an ice mass located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. The closest land is Greenland’s Coffee Club Island.

In the summer of 2008, satellite images revealed that ice in the North Pole had melted to such an extent that, for the first time since the beginning of the last Ice Age, passages of open water had been created through the northwest and northeast of the Arctic.

Such a passage had long been anticipated by shipping companies for its potential to drastically reduce shipping times. In contrast, scientists fear it. They see it as an example of rapid global warming.

The continued summer shrinkage of the northern polar ice also has geopolitical ramifications. In particular, it has exacerbated old disputes over territorial and resource rights between polar countries. These are the United States (via Alaska), Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Russia.

It is very different in Antarctica. The continent has been a demilitarized scientific zone since a 1959 treaty between Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

B 8,200 feet is not

correct: The Antarctic ice sheet contains more than 60 percent of the world’s fresh water and 90 percent of the world’s ice. If it were to melt entirely, global sea levels would be 190 feet higher than they are today.

The ice sheet is extremely tall on land, above the water line at the coast, or underwater. The West Antarctic ice sheet is about 8,200 feet thick. On the East Antarctic ice sheet, the ice reaches a peak thickness of 15,669 feet at the Astrolabe Subglacial Basin. Scientists have discovered that climate change appears to be destabilizing vast ice sheets of western Antarctica that had previously seemed relatively protected from global warming raising the prospect of faster-rising sea levels.

C 9,300 feet is correct: While Antarctica as a continent has widely varying elevations, the South Pole is at an elevation of 9,301 feet. Of that, some 8,858 fee) is ice alone. If it melts substantially, the elevation will decline.

The South Pole lies approximately 300miles inland from the floating Ross Ice Shelf on the Southern Ocean. Antarctica’s landmass is three times the size of the European Union and 1.5times the size of the United States. It is also 1.8times larger than Australia, which is the sixth largest country on earth. The South Pole’s elevation and its land-based location, compared to the floating sea-level North Pole, both make the South Pole much colder than its northern counterpart. Average daily temperatures at the South Pole run at -76 degrees fahrenheit during the coldest month of August and -18 degrees fahrenheit during the warmest month of December. This compares to a winter average of -40 degrees fahrenheit or a summer average of 32 degrees fahrenheit at the North Pole.

The South Pole was first reached in December 1911 by Norway’s Roald Amundsen and his overland expedition. After a rival expedition arrived in January 1912, no one returned to the South Pole until 1956 when the United States established a permanent research station there.

D 16,100 feet is not

correct: The highest mountain in Antarctica is Vinson Massif, which reaches 16,050 feet above sea level. Climbers of this peak must contend with 70 mph winds. Vinson is one of the “Seven Summits,” the tallest peaks on each continent revered by mountain climbers.

The other summits are Asia’s Mount Everest (29,029 feet), South America’s Mount Aconcagua (22,838 feet), North America’s Denali (20,322 feet), Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet), Europe’s Mount Elbrus (18,511 feet) and Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko (7,310 feet).

This puts Antarctica’s Vinson Massif sixth on the list at its highest point of prominence above its surroundings.

It was the last of the Seven that the world’s mountain climbers first ascended, only being conquered in 1966, more than a decade after Everest. In fact, Vinson was not even seen by humans until a U.S. Navy flight confirmed it in 1958.

The mountain, part of the continent’s Sentinel Range, is one of the world’s 1,524 “ultra-prominent peaks” that rise at least 1,500 meters (4,921 feet).