Fun Facts About Antarctica: Part 2

Last week, I posted Part 1 of Fun Facts About Antarctica. There may well be multiple parts in this series but for now, here is Part 2!

(Alternatively, I could call this particular post, "Things that travelers would normally want to know about, but may not necessarily apply in this case because, Antarctica.")

Time Zone
Interestingly, a quick Google search returns conflicting information about the time zone for Antarctica - likely due to its sheer geographic scale, the incredibly small number of people found on the continent at any given time, and the presence of the South Pole. However, this explantion from Wikipedia seems to cover it:

Antarctica sits on every line of longitude, due to the South Pole being situated on the continent. Theoretically, Antarctica would be located in all time zones; however, areas south of the Antarctic Circle experience extreme day-night cycles near the times of the June and December solstices, making it difficult to determine which time zone would be appropriate.

For practical purposes time zones are usually based on territorial claims; however, many stations use the time of the country they are owned by or the time zone of their supply base (e.g. McMurdo Station and Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station use New Zealand time due to their main supply base being Christchurch, New Zealand). 

Ushuaia and the Martial mountain range
© Mario Tama/Getty (2017)

As it happens, our boat will run on GMT-4 time, which is the same time zone used in Ushuaia, Argentina - the embarkation site for our trip.

Language
No, there is no official language in Antarctica. However, given the abundance of ice, Quark Expeditions has produced "A Glossary of Ice Terms" which I think is quite fun. Here are some highlights from the compilation.

Bergy-bit: A piece of floating ice, geneally less than 5 meters above sea level, and not more than about 10 meters across. It is generally of glacier ice, but may be a massive piece of sea ice.

Calve: When a block of ice breaks away from a glacier, an ice front, or an iceberg.

Frazil: Fine spicules or plates of ice in suspension in water.

Growler: A piece of ice awash, smaller than a bergy-bit. Growlers can be dangerous, because they are difficult to detect on ships' radar.

Ice blink: Silvery-white glare caused by the reflection of distant pack ice on the clouds.

Tabular berg: An iceberg that is flat-topped and more or less parallel with the waterline, and with no evidence of having rolled over. Formed by calving off an ice shelf.

Currency
There is no formal currency in Antarctica. However, Port Lockroy in the Antarctic Peninsula takes U.S. dollars, Pound Sterling and Euro (more on the location of Port Lockroy in another post).

I'm thinking subsequent "Fun Facts" might include Antarctic history, some of the wildlife we might see and places to visit. Anything else you specifically want to learn about? Let me know in the comments!

Port Lockroy, Antarctica
© Dietmar Denger

References

• Quark Expeditions. (n.d.). Antarctic Reader. A Glossary of Ice Terms. 
• Quark Expeditions. (2019). Currency (Antarctic). Retrieved from: https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/en/travel-tips/currency-antarctic
• Wikipedia. (2019). Time in Antarctica. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Antarctica