Virtual Antarctica History: The Scientific Era

The Scientific Era

Ernest Shackleton's dream of crossing the continent was finally accomplished in 1958, not by ship or sledge, but using more modern means by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Britain's' Vivian Fuchs. A New Zealand support team, led by the conqueror of Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary, established the route from Ross Island to the South Pole using converted Ferguson farm tractors. Fuchs's main party, which began at the Weddell Sea, reached the Pole two weeks after Hillary and continued to the Ross Sea with the party of New Zealanders.

Just as the goal of a land crossing of the continent had finally been reached, the interest of the international community in the Antarctic reached new heights. Such interest began almost a century earlier, with the First International Polar Conference held in 1879, which led to the First International Polar Year in 1882-83. This work was carried out mainly in the Arctic and Subantarctic and studies were conducted into the astronomy, optical phenomena, geomagnetism, meteorology and natural history of the regions. The Second Polar Year was in 1932-33, with a similar agenda.

In 1950 a third polar year was first proposed to occur later in the decade when it would coincide with a solar "maximum", a period when solar activity would be at its most intense. It became known as the International Geophysical Year (IGY), which embraced the dual objectives of exploring outer space and the Antarctic. The 18-month period ran from July 1957 to the end of 1958, involved the activites of 67 countries, and increased the number of scientific bases from 28 to 40.

This massive co-operative effort in the name of scientific research led to the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in December 1959 (see below), and the formation of an international Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), a non-government organization of scientists from some twenty countries operating through ten permanent working groups relating to various scientific disciplines.

In order to facilitate the pursuit of research in the Antarctic, and to ensure that it remained open to all nations to conduct scientific or peaceful activities there, the governments of the 12 nations who were then active in the Antarctic signed the Antarctic Treaty in Washington on December 1, 1959, at the conclusions of the IGY. It has since been acceded to by many other nations.

The governments of the exploring nations had long taken an interest in acquiring territory in the region. Britain made a formal claim on the Antarctic Peninsula and the Weddell Sea in 1908; New Zealand claimed what is now the Ross Dependency in 1923; and Australia made a claim in 1933 to the region south of Australia explored by Mawson. France had already claimed Adelie Land in 1924, and the Australian claims fell on either side of France's. Norway formalized its claim in 1939. Each of these nations recognized the claims of the others. Chile and Argentina, however disputed Britain's claim to the Antarctic Peninsula as well as each other's claims as they overlapped.

These overlapping territorial claims still stand, though under the Antarctic Treaty such claims are held in abeyance. Were it not for the scientists, the rivalries and conflicting national claims that were a legacy of the explorers, could well have made Antarctica into a mosaic of colonial outposts, fragmented just as Africa and South America were in the eighteenth century.

The motives behind nearly a century of polar exploration have changed little in kind, only in degree. All ventures have more or less been undertaken not only for political ends (especially territorial claims) and the prospect of economic benefits to both the participating individuals and their home country, but also the quest for scientific and geographical knowledge, a spirit of adventure and exploration, and a wish to experience the beauty of wild and extreme environments.