South Pole Mike: How Antarctica was formed and more artwork from Karen Young.

I have been uploading my Palmer Station videos to YouTube. On the settings (the small gear on the bottom right side of the viewing screen) select HD for the best quality.

https://youtu.be/21wArYwldc4

https://youtu.be/n7jtXKZX1Gk

https://youtu.be/x2eN71TY4Xc

https://youtu.be/sX3J-mpouWY

https://youtu.be/HWERN1fKr5Q

https://youtu.be/pDKQlYoM_W4

Antarctic was part of South America about 40 million years ago. At that time there was no ice covering and it was composed of forests, lakes, and rivers.

The Antarctic Peninsula was connected to Tierra del Fuego in the southern part of South America. Due to tectonic plate action Antarctica broke away and became its own continent. Tierra del Fuego (Spanish: "Land of Fire") got its name from Ferdinand Magellan who, on passing the archipelago in 1520, spotted a number of fires burning along the coastline. These fires may have been made by the archipelago's aboriginal inhabitants

Due to this and the new current traveling around Antarctica warmer water was unable to reach and the new continent froze over millions of year. The ice on the polar plateau is some 2 miles think.

Antarctica today.

A few weeks ago I posted about a group of us exploring Old Palmer Station and finding a colony of elephant seals. Karen Young, an artist, was with us and made this cartoon with pictures of of the seals. That's me in the lead with a radio. What a cool work of art! Thanks Karen.

Karen was onboard the Gould with us winterovers when we came across the Drake Passage. This was the cartoon she made then. You can see her fantastic work at https://www.karenromanoyoung.com/antarcticlog-gallery