Introduction

How to Use Antarctica: 90 Degrees South

Did You Know?

Exploration

Timeline

Glossary

Literature Connection

Maps

Antarctica: 90 Degrees South Credits

Glossary

Algae aquatic, non-vascular plants such as seaweed, pond scum and stoneworts

Altitude the vertical elevation of an object above the surface

Antarctic Convergence where the Antarctic surface water comes into contact with the sub-Antarctic surface water (which is warmer). The waters do not mix. The Antarctic surface water sinks below the sub-Antarctic surface water. This is also affected by winds.

Aurora Australis an aurora (light show) that occurs in earth's southern hemisphere called also southern lights

Bacteria microscopic plants having round, rod-like, spiral or filamentous single-celled or non-cellular bodies often aggregated into colonies living in soil, water, organic matter or the bodies of plants and animals

Biodiversity an environment as indicated by numbers of different species of plants and animals

Biome a major ecological community type (tropical rain forest, grassland or desert)

Climate the average course or condition of the weather at a place, usually over a period of years as exhibited by temperature, wind velocity and precipitation

Conservation planned management of a natural resource to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect

Continental crust the land crust of the earth

Core samples drillings into the earth that show the layering of material in the earth's crust

Continent one of the six or seven great divisions of land on the globe

Convergence the act of moving toward each other and colliding

Crevasse a narrow opening resulting from a split or crack (as in a cliff)

Divergence the act of moving away from each other

Expedition a journey or excursion undertaken for a specific purpose

Exploitation to make use of meanly or unjustly for one's own advantage

Extinct no longer existing

Fungi any group of parasitic lower plants that lacks chlorophyll and includes molds, rusts, mildews, smuts, mushrooms and yeasts

Geology a science that deals with the history of the earth and its life especially as recorded in rocks

Glacier/ice sheet a large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface

Global warming an increase in the average temperature of the earth

Habitat the place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows

Iceberg a large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier

Insulation prevents transfer of heat, electricity or sound

International Geophysical Year an 18-month period from July 1957 through December 1958, during a period of maximum sunspot activity, designated for cooperative study of the solar-terrestrial environment by the scientists of 67 nations

Katabatic Winds the mountainous landscape channels and forces the air to flow down the slopes, and gravity causes it to strengthen; these are called inversion winds

Lichens any plant made up of an algae and a fungus growing in symbiotic association on a solid surface such as a rock.

Mosses a bryophytic plant having a small leafy, often tufted stem bearing sex organs at its tip

Native species belonging to or associated with a particular place or vicinity

Nematode worms parasitic worms in animals and plants or free-living in soil or water

Nunatak a hill or mountain completely surrounded by glacial ice

Oceanic crust the crust underlying the ocean basin

Ozone oxygen formed naturally in the upper atmosphere by photochemical reaction with solar ultraviolet radiation; it is a major agent in the formation of smogs

Penguins erect, short-legged, flightless aquatic birds of the southern hemisphere

Polar of or relating to a geographical pole or the region around it

Polar Cap/Polar Circle either of the two parallels of latitude, each at a distance from a pole of the earth equal to about 23 degrees 27 minutes

Plankton a passively floating or weakly swimming, usually minute, animal

Plate tectonics the lithosphere of the earth is divided into a small number of plates which float on and travel independently over the mantle; much of the earth's seismic activity occurs at the boundaries of these plates

Precipitation a deposit on the earth of hail, mist, rain, sleet or snow

Protozoa a unicellular animal with complex life cycles, represented in almost every kind of habitat and some of which are serious parasites of man and domestic animals

Rotifers microscopic, many-celled aquatic invertebrate animals that have the appearance of rapidly revolving wheels

South Pole the southernmost point of the earth

Species a class of individuals having common attributes and designated by a common name

Sustainable a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged

Tardigrades a microscopic arthropod with four pairs of legs that lives in water or damp moss

Threatened Species species at high risk of extinction

Treaty an agreement or arrangement made by negotiation

Tundra a level or rolling treeless plain that is characteristic of arctic and subarctic regions; consists of black mucky soil with a permanently frozen subsoil; has a dominant vegetation of mosses, lichens, herbs and dwarf shrubs

Viable capable of growing or developing

Wind chill how cold the air feels taking into account the temperature and the wind speed

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