It’s time to get out your globe! You need to know about the imaginary lines on globes and maps. These lines are called lines of latitude and longitude, and they tell a pilot or ship’s captain exactly where in the world a certain place is located. Basically, latitude lines (also called parallels) are the horizontal lines on your map. Lines of longitude (also called meridians) are the vertical lines that run from the North Pole to the South Pole. This mapping system is written in degrees and uses the symbol °. Get ready to travel the world!
Antarctica is the southernmost continent. It is also where the South Pole is located (90 ° S on the map). The very first people to see Antarctica were Faddey Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. They visited the continent in 1820. The pair had no idea that most of Antarctica is made of ice and that they could not sail directly to the South Pole. People did not actually try to hike across the ice until 1901. That expedition was led by Robert Falcon Scott. Unfortunately, they were not able to get completely to the pole. Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer, led the first group that actually made it to the South Pole in 1911. These expeditions are very difficult and dangerous. It takes a lot of supplies to make it miles and miles across the ice all the way to the South Pole.
In some expeditions, people have even died. Here are some of the examples of the equipment needed for an expedition:
• Insulated water bottles, so that the water won’t freeze
• Sun glasses to block the light that reflects off the snow
• A sled to carry all of the equipment
• Food for 80 days
• A tent
• A sleeping bag
• A face mask to protect from winds
• Sunscreen and lip salve to protect from the harsh wind and reflected light
• A Swiss army knife
• Ski equipment
• A compass
• Medical supplies
When going to the South Pole, you have to carry everything you could possibly need. Sometimes it can be difficult to decide how much of everything to carry. It is important to carry more than one of necessary items in case something gets lost, but you also have to consider things like how much it weighs and how big it is because the explorers and scientists carry everything they take with them. Many modern expeditions have motorized vehicles and sleds to help with the travelling. In the first expeditions, dog sleds were responsible for carrying all of the packs. There is a limit to how much each sled and person can carry, so it is important to think very hard about everything that is packed.
