Polar Region - Antarctica and The Southern Ocean

Antarctica and The Southern Ocean

See also: Antarctica

The southern polar region has no permanent human habitation. McMurdo Station is the largest research station in Antarctica, run by the United States. Other notable stations include Palmer Station and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (United States), Esperanza Base and Marambio Base (Argentina), Scott Base (New Zealand), and Vostok Station (Russia).

While there are no indigenous human cultures, there is a complex ecosystem, especially along Antarctica's coastal zones. Coastal upwelling provides abundant nutrients which feeds krill, a type of marine crustacea, which in turn feeds a complex of living creatures from penguins to blue whales.

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Famous quotes containing the words southern and/or ocean:

    It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)

    Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
    Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
    So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
    Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)