Antarctica

qas: question: Which continent is the highest in elevation?
answers: text: Antarctica

question: What is the annual precipitation rate of coastal Antarctica?
answers: text: 200 mm

question: What is the average coldest temperature?
answers: text: −63 °C

question: What is the coldest recorded temperature?
answers: text: −89.2 °C

question: Ehat is the vegetation type on Antarctica? 
answers: text: tundra

question: What is on average is the coldest, wetest, and windiest continent?

question: What coninent has lowest average elevation?

question: Where has the temperature reached 89.2 degress Celsius 

question: How many humans live in Antarctica?

question: What type of organism can not be found in Antarctica?

question: What continent has only 200 in of annual precipitation?

question: Where has the temperature reached -89.2°F?

question: How many permanent residents are living in research stations?

question: What is the yearly average temperature in Antarctica? 
context: Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F), though the average for the third quarter (the coldest part of the year) is −63 °C (−81 °F). There are no permanent human residents, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, and certain animals, such as mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra.

qas: question: To what mountainous area is Antarctica geologically similar?
answers: text: Andes

question: An uplift of what formed Antarctica?
answers: text: sea bed sediments

question: Starting from the late Paleozoic era, when did Antarctica finish forming?
answers: text: early Mesozoic

question: What are the most often found rocks in Antarctica?
answers: text: andesite and rhyolite

question: What type of geologic activity occurred even after the formation of the ice sheets?
answers: text: volcanic

question: What was once part of the Andes mountains of South America?

question: What caused the Antarctic Peninsula to for prior to the Paleozoic era?

question: What caused volcanism on the Antarctic Peninsula?

question: What are the rarest rocks in Western Antarctica?

question: What activity stopped after the ice sheet formed?

question: What closely resembles the Andes mountain range of Antarctica?

question: What was formed during the early Paleozoic and the late Mesozoic eras?

question: What are the most common rocks in Antarctica?

question: When were the andesite and rhyolite formed in West Antarctica?

question: What is there evidence of in Alexander Byrd Land and Marie Island?
context: Geologically, West Antarctica closely resembles the Andes mountain range of South America. The Antarctic Peninsula was formed by uplift and metamorphism of sea bed sediments during the late Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic eras. This sediment uplift was accompanied by igneous intrusions and volcanism. The most common rocks in West Antarctica are andesite and rhyolite volcanics formed during the Jurassic period. There is also evidence of volcanic activity, even after the ice sheet had formed, in Marie Byrd Land and Alexander Island. The only anomalous area of West Antarctica is the Ellsworth Mountains region, where the stratigraphy is more similar to East Antarctica.

qas: question: What did people once believe could not be found further south than Australia?
answers: text: significant landmass

question: What explorer gave the name of Terra Australis to Australia?
answers: text: Matthew Flinders

question: What was the name of Flinders book about his trip to Australia?
answers: text: A Voyage to Terra Australis

question: When did Flinders write his book of discovery?
answers: text: 1814

question: What event caused people to misname Antarctica?
answers: text: mistake

question: What land mass was named after after Australia?

question: What land mass was believed to be further south than Australia?

question: What explorer opposed naming Australia  after Terra Australis?

question: What book did Matthew Flinders write in the 18th century?

question: What continent was given the name Australis Terra?

question: What was Flinder Matthews credited with?

question: What book did Flinders write in 1841?
context: Integral to the story of the origin of the name "Antarctica" is how it was not named Terra Australis—this name was given to Australia instead, and it was because of a mistake made by people who decided that a significant landmass would not be found farther south than Australia. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has been credited with popularizing the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. He justified the titling of his book A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814) by writing in the introduction:

qas: question: Part of what study is the census of Antarctic marine life?
answers: text: Census of Marine Life

question: When was the census of sea life carried out in Antarctica?
answers: text: International Polar Year

question: How many sea animals live in Earth's polar regions?
answers: text: 235

question: Besides birds, what large animals travel from one pole to the other?
answers: text: cetaceans

question: What is the amount of difference in temperature  in the deep ocean?
answers: text: 5 °C

question: Who conducted a censuslife on Antarctica in 2010?

question: How many marine organism live in the South Pole region?

question: What animals live at the South Pole all year?

question: Where is there a large variatio in temperatures of the deep ocean?

question: What was conducted during the Polar Year International?

question: How many researchers were involved in the Polar Year International census?

question: What was released in 2001?

question: How many marine organisms were found in the 12,000 miles studied?

question: How many marine species were found within the 7,456 km studied?
context: A census of sea life carried out during the International Polar Year and which involved some 500 researchers was released in 2010. The research is part of the global Census of Marine Life (CoML) and has disclosed some remarkable findings. More than 235 marine organisms live in both polar regions, having bridged the gap of 12,000 km (7,456 mi). Large animals such as some cetaceans and birds make the round trip annually. More surprising are small forms of life such as mudworms, sea cucumbers and free-swimming snails found in both polar oceans. Various factors may aid in their distribution – fairly uniform temperatures of the deep ocean at the poles and the equator which differ by no more than 5 °C, and the major current systems or marine conveyor belt which transport eggs and larval stages.

qas: question: What explorer led the Nimrod Expedition into Antarctica?
answers: text: Ernest Shackleton

question: Who led the party to first climb Mount Erebus?
answers: text: Edgeworth David

question: Who led the return expedition to find the Magnetic pole?
answers: text: Douglas Mawson

question: When did Mawson retire after leading several expeditions?
answers: text: 1931

question: When did Roald Amundsen reach the geographic south pole?
answers: text: 14 December 1911

question: What expitition was led by Shackleton in the 19th century?

question: What did the party led by Shckleton climb?

question: What expedition reached the North Magnetic Pole?

question: What did Edgeworth David traverse?

question: What ship did Shackelton use to reach the geographic South Pole?

question: What expedition was led by Edgeworth Shackleton?

question: Who led Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica? 

question: Who led the Magnetic Pole party in 1931?

question: Who led the expedition that would first reach the geographic South Pole on 11 December 1914?

question: When was the South Polar Plateau first traversed?
context: During the Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1907, parties led by Edgeworth David became the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the South Magnetic Pole. Douglas Mawson, who assumed the leadership of the Magnetic Pole party on their perilous return, went on to lead several expeditions until retiring in 1931. In addition, Shackleton himself and three other members of his expedition made several firsts in December 1908 – February 1909: they were the first humans to traverse the Ross Ice Shelf, the first to traverse the Transantarctic Mountains (via the Beardmore Glacier), and the first to set foot on the South Polar Plateau. An expedition led by Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen from the ship Fram became the first to reach the geographic South Pole on 14 December 1911, using a route from the Bay of Whales and up the Axel Heiberg Glacier. One month later, the doomed Scott Expedition reached the pole.

qas: question: When was the Antarctic Conservation Act passed by the U.S.?
answers: text: 1978

question: What type of penalty can importing plants and animals into Antarctica bring?
answers: text: criminal

question: Over fishing of which species of fish helped promote regulations on fishing?
answers: text: krill

question: How many tonnes of Patagonian toothfish were illegally fished in 2000?
answers: text: 32,000

question: When did the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources  come into force?
answers: text: 1980

question: What passed in 1987?

question: Where was the 1987 Antarctic Conservation Act passed?

question: What does CMACLR stand for?

question: What year did the CMACLR come into force?

question: What year saw illegal fishing of toothfish measure 32,000 short tons?
context: The passing of the Antarctic Conservation Act (1978) in the U.S. brought several restrictions to U.S. activity on Antarctica. The introduction of alien plants or animals can bring a criminal penalty, as can the extraction of any indigenous species. The overfishing of krill, which plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem, led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), a treaty that came into force in 1980, requires that regulations managing all Southern Ocean fisheries consider potential effects on the entire Antarctic ecosystem. Despite these new acts, unregulated and illegal fishing, particularly of Patagonian toothfish (marketed as Chilean Sea Bass in the U.S.), remains a serious problem. The illegal fishing of toothfish has been increasing, with estimates of 32,000 tonnes (35,300 short tons) in 2000.

qas: question: Since what year has tourism been ongoing to Antarctica?
answers: text: 1957

question: What is expedition tourism to Antarctica subject to?
answers: text: Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol

question: How many of the Antarctic tour operators belong to IAATO?
answers: text: 95%

question: What is the mode of travel for Antarctic tours?
answers: text: small or medium ship

question: How many tourists went to Antarctica during the 2006-07 season?
answers: text: 37,506

question: What has existed since 1975?

question: What does IATAO stand for?

question: What percentage of tourism do members of the IATAO account for?

question: How many tourists visited in 2006?

question: What was the number of tourists predicted to increase to in 2007?
context: Small-scale "expedition tourism" has existed since 1957 and is currently subject to Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol provisions, but in effect self-regulated by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). Not all vessels associated with Antarctic tourism are members of IAATO, but IAATO members account for 95% of the tourist activity. Travel is largely by small or medium ship, focusing on specific scenic locations with accessible concentrations of iconic wildlife. A total of 37,506 tourists visited during the 2006–07 Austral summer with nearly all of them coming from commercial ships. The number was predicted to increase to over 80,000 by 2010.

qas: question: What is the main mineral found on Antarctica?
answers: text: coal

question: Where was coal first found on Antarctica?
answers: text: Beardmore Glacier

question: What expedition discovered coal on Antarctica?
answers: text: Nimrod Expedition

question: Where is iron ore found on Antarctica?
answers: text: Prince Charles Mountains

question: Where are oil and gas deposits located near Antarctica?
answers: text: Ross Sea

question: What is the rarest mineral resource on the continent?

question: Who first discovered coal in the Southern Hemisphere?

question: What ore was found near the Beardmore Glacier?

question: What valuable resources did the Nimrod Expodition find in the Ross Sea?

question: What type od resources can only be explored until 2048?

question: What is the main mineral resource of the Prince Charles Glacier?

question: What did Frank Beardmore first record during the Nimrod Expedition?

question: What significant deposits are found in the Transantarctic Mountains?

question: What was found in the Ross Sea in 1937?

question: What is banned until 2084?
context: The main mineral resource known on the continent is coal. It was first recorded near the Beardmore Glacier by Frank Wild on the Nimrod Expedition, and now low-grade coal is known across many parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The Prince Charles Mountains contain significant deposits of iron ore. The most valuable resources of Antarctica lie offshore, namely the oil and natural gas fields found in the Ross Sea in 1973. Exploitation of all mineral resources is banned until 2048 by the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

qas: question: What type of research was Princess Elizabeth station built to study?
answers: text: climate change

question: How much did the Princess Elizabeth station cost?
answers: text: $16.3 million

question: What unique characteristic does the Princess Elizabeth station feature?
answers: text: zero-emissions

question: From what country was the Princess Elizabeth station shipped?
answers: text: Belgium

question: Who is the leader of the station design team?
answers: text: Johan Berte

question: What happened on 7 September 2006?

question: What was unveiled on 7 September 2006?

question: Who unveiled the Princess Elisabeth on 7 September 2006?

question: What cost $13.6 million?

question: Who is Alain Berte?
context: On 6 September 2007, Belgian-based International Polar Foundation unveiled the Princess Elisabeth station, the world's first zero-emissions polar science station in Antarctica to research climate change. Costing $16.3 million, the prefabricated station, which is part of the International Polar Year, was shipped to the South Pole from Belgium by the end of 2008 to monitor the health of the polar regions. Belgian polar explorer Alain Hubert stated: "This base will be the first of its kind to produce zero emissions, making it a unique model of how energy should be used in the Antarctic." Johan Berte is the leader of the station design team and manager of the project which conducts research in climatology, glaciology and microbiology.

qas: question: What type of ice originates on land and floats out to sea?
answers: text: floating ice shelves

question: What events have occurred in recent decades to the ice shelves surrounding Antarctica?
answers: text: collapses

question: Along what area has there been more collapsing ice shelves?
answers: text: Antarctic Peninsula

question: What could the displacement of ice cause?
answers: text: glacial outflow

question: What weather event would offset loss of ice shelves?
answers: text: snow falling

question: Where did ice on land originate? 

question: What is the result of floating ice shelves melting from the land?

question: What does snow offset on the continent shelves?

question: Where is the concern with regard to disruption of ice melts?
context: Melting of floating ice shelves (ice that originated on the land) does not in itself contribute much to sea-level rise (since the ice displaces only its own mass of water). However it is the outflow of the ice from the land to form the ice shelf which causes a rise in global sea level. This effect is offset by snow falling back onto the continent. Recent decades have witnessed several dramatic collapses of large ice shelves around the coast of Antarctica, especially along the Antarctic Peninsula. Concerns have been raised that disruption of ice shelves may result in increased glacial outflow from the continental ice mass.

qas: question: What can not grow extensively in Antarctica?
answers: text: vegetation

question: What does the climate of Antarctica inhibit?
answers: text: plant growth

question: hat is low and limited in Antarctica?
answers: text: diversity of plant life

question: How many species of Mosses are there in Antarctica?
answers: text: 100

question: What allows extensive vegitation to occur?

question: What promotes plant growth?

question: What is diverse and widely distributed?

question: Where are there 25 species of mosses?

question: What climate allows extensive vegetation to form?

question: What are there 105 species of?

question: What are there 20 species of?

question: How many species of plants are there?

question: Where are all of the plants found?
context: The climate of Antarctica does not allow extensive vegetation to form. A combination of freezing temperatures, poor soil quality, lack of moisture, and lack of sunlight inhibit plant growth. As a result, the diversity of plant life is very low and limited in distribution. The flora of the continent largely consists of bryophytes. There are about 100 species of mosses and 25 species of liverworts, but only three species of flowering plants, all of which are found in the Antarctic Peninsula: Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hair grass), Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort) and the non-native Poa annua (annual bluegrass). Growth is restricted to a few weeks in the summer.

qas: question: Since what year have claims been suspended in Antarctica?
answers: text: 1959

question: What document regulates Antarctica's status?
answers: text: Antarctic Treaty System

question: What latitude is defined as being Antarctica's border?
answers: text: south of 60° S

question: How many countries signed the treaty protecting Antarctica from claims?
answers: text: twelve

question: What does the treaty set Antarctica aside as?
answers: text: scientific preserve

question: What has been suspended since 1995?

question: What year did Norway formally define Maud Queen Land?

question: What 1995 treaty is Antarctica's status regulated by?

question: What is defined as all land and ice shelves south of 59° S?
context: New claims on Antarctica have been suspended since 1959 although Norway in 2015 formally defined Queen Maud Land as including the unclaimed area between it and the South Pole. Antarctica's status is regulated by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and other related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctica is defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60° S for the purposes of the Treaty System. The treaty was signed by twelve countries including the Soviet Union (and later Russia), the United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and the United States. It set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, established freedom of scientific investigation and environmental protection, and banned military activity on Antarctica. This was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.

qas: question: When did Cook's ships cross the Antarctic circle?
answers: text: 17 January 1773

question: What kept Captain Cook from getting too close to Antarctica?
answers: text: field ice

question: How many men sighted Antarctica in 1820?
answers: text: three

question: How close did von Bellingshausen and Lazarev come to Antarctica?
answers: text: 32 km

question: When was the first recorded landing on Antarctica?
answers: text: 1895

question: Who's ship crossed the Antarctic Circle in the 17th century?

question: What ships did Cook use to circle the Antarctic Circle?

question: Who sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in the 18th century?

question: What ships were captained by Bransfield and Lazarev?

question: Who sighted land ten months before Bransfield?

question: What ships crossed the Arctic Circle on 17 January 1773?

question: What crossed the Antarctic Circle in December 1774?

question: Who came within 120 mi of the Antarctic coast in 1773?

question: What did three might sight in 1802?

question: What ice shelf was spotted within 32 mi from Queen Maud's Land?
context: European maps continued to show this hypothesized land until Captain James Cook's ships, HMS Resolution and Adventure, crossed the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773, in December 1773 and again in January 1774. Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals. According to various organizations (the National Science Foundation, NASA, the University of California, San Diego, and other sources), ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820: von Bellingshausen (a captain in the Imperial Russian Navy), Edward Bransfield (a captain in the Royal Navy), and Nathaniel Palmer (a sealer out of Stonington, Connecticut). The expedition led by von Bellingshausen and Lazarev on the ships Vostok and Mirny reached a point within 32 km (20 mi) from Queen Maud's Land and recorded the sight of an ice shelf at 69°21′28″S 2°14′50″W﻿ / ﻿69.35778°S 2.24722°W﻿ / -69.35778; -2.24722, which became known as the Fimbul ice shelf. This happened three days before Bransfield sighted land, and ten months before Palmer did so in November 1820. The first documented landing on Antarctica was by the American sealer John Davis, apparently at Hughes Bay, near Cape Charles, in West Antarctica on 7 February 1821, although some historians dispute this claim. The first recorded and confirmed landing was at Cape Adair in 1895.

qas: question: What has been an important atmospheric study since the 1970s?
answers: text: ozone layer

question: Where in Antarctica is Halley Station?
answers: text: Brunt Ice Shelf

question: When did scientists discover the hole in the ozone layer?
answers: text: 1985

question: What chemical was discovered to have caused the hole in the ozone?
answers: text: chlorofluorocarbons

question: What agreement banned the use of CFC s?
answers: text: Montreal Protocol

question: What was studied in 1970?

question: What was discovered in 1985 in the ozone at the Brunt Station on the Halley Ice Shelf?

question: What does CCF stand for?

question: What were banned in 1998?

question: What will happen to the ozone by 2050?
context: Since the 1970s, an important focus of study has been the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica. In 1985, three British scientists working on data they had gathered at Halley Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf discovered the existence of a hole in this layer. It was eventually determined that the destruction of the ozone was caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) emitted by human products. With the ban of CFCs in the Montreal Protocol of 1989, climate projections indicate that the ozone layer will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070.

qas: question: What type of climate did Gondwana have during the Cambrian period?
answers: text: mild

question: In what hemisphere did west Antarctica share during the Cambrian?
answers: text: Northern

question: Where was east Antarctica during the Cambrian period?
answers: text: equator

question: What was the climate of Gondwana at the beginning of the Devonian period?
answers: text: cooler

question: Where was Gondwana located by the end of the Devonian period?
answers: text: South Pole

question: What part of Antarctica is currently in the Northern Hemispher?

question: What was deposited in Western Antarctica while it was in the Southern Hemisphere

question: What life florishes in East Antarctica's tropical seas?

question: What dominated the land during the Devion period?

question: When did Antarctica develop a hot dry climate?

question: What had a mild climate during the Devonian period?

question: What started 461 Ma?

question: During the Devonian period, where was East Antarctica?

question: What began 306 Ma?

question: What type of plants dominated the Devonian period?
context: During the Cambrian period, Gondwana had a mild climate. West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere, and during this period large amounts of sandstones, limestones and shales were deposited. East Antarctica was at the equator, where sea floor invertebrates and trilobites flourished in the tropical seas. By the start of the Devonian period (416 Ma), Gondwana was in more southern latitudes and the climate was cooler, though fossils of land plants are known from this time. Sand and silts were laid down in what is now the Ellsworth, Horlick and Pensacola Mountains. Glaciation began at the end of the Devonian period (360 Ma), as Gondwana became centered on the South Pole and the climate cooled, though flora remained. During the Permian period, the land became dominated by seed plants such as Glossopteris, a pteridosperm which grew in swamps. Over time these swamps became deposits of coal in the Transantarctic Mountains. Towards the end of the Permian period, continued warming led to a dry, hot climate over much of Gondwana.

qas: question: What is the Earth's most southern continent?
answers: text: Antarctica

question: Which pole is located in Antarctica?
answers: text: South Pole

question: What ocean surrounds Antarctica?
answers: text: Southern Ocean

question: What is the size of Antarctica?
answers: text: 14,000,000 square kilometres

question: How much of Antarctica is ice covered?
answers: text: 98%

question: What is the earths northernmost continent?

question: What continent is almost entirely south of the Arctic Circle?

question: What Ocean does Antarctica surround?

question: What continents is Antarctica larger than?

question: How thick is the ice at the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula?

question: What continent is 14,000,000 square miles?

question: What continents are largest after Antarctica? 

question: What continent is Australia twice the size of?

question: What averages 1.9 mi in thickness?

question: How much of Australia is covered by ice?
context: Antarctica (US English i/æntˈɑːrktɪkə/, UK English /ænˈtɑːktɪkə/ or /ænˈtɑːtɪkə/ or /ænˈɑːtɪkə/)[Note 1] is Earth's southernmost continent, containing the geographic South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres (5,400,000 square miles), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi; 6,200 ft) in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula.

qas: question: Where was the coldest temperature recorded on Earth?
answers: text: Antarctica

question: What was the coldest temperature ever recorded?
answers: text: −89.2 °C

question: On what date was the Earth's coldest temperature recorded?
answers: text: 21 July 1983

question: What is Antarctica topographically ?
answers: text: frozen desert

question: What light caused condition is a serious problem for humans in Antarctica?
answers: text: Sunburn

question: What is the coldest temerature recorded in Russia?

question: What recieves less than 10 cm of rain per year?

question: What relflects most of the light falling on it?

question: What temperature was recorded in Russia on 21 July 1983?

question: What does CO2 make up 0.39% of?

question: What be produced in Antarctica with temperatures less than -150°F

question: What receives 10 inches of precipitation on average?
context: Antarctica is the coldest of Earth's continents. The coldest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the Soviet (now Russian) Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. For comparison, this is 10.7 °C (20 °F) colder than subliming dry ice at one atmosphere of partial pressure, but since CO2 only makes up 0.039% of air, temperatures of less than −150 °C (−238 °F) would be needed to produce dry ice snow in Antarctica. Antarctica is a frozen desert with little precipitation; the South Pole itself receives less than 10 cm (4 in) per year, on average. Temperatures reach a minimum of between −80 °C (−112 °F) and −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) in the interior in winter and reach a maximum of between 5 °C (41 °F) and 15 °C (59 °F) near the coast in summer. Sunburn is often a health issue as the snow surface reflects almost all of the ultraviolet light falling on it. Given the latitude, long periods of constant darkness or constant sunlight create climates unfamiliar to human beings in much of the rest of the world.

qas: question: Who wrote a book describing a cold region in 350 B.C.?
answers: text: Aristotle

question: What map maker used the name Antarctica in his map of the 2nd century A.D.?
answers: text: Marinus of Tyre

question: What did authors Hyginus and Apuleious call the South Pole?
answers: text: polus antarcticus

question: What did Chaucer call the area in 1391?
answers: text: pol antartik

question: What was the old French words for the Antarctic?
answers: text: pole antartike

question: Who wrote about an Antarctic region in the third century B.C?

question: Who's map is still preserved from the 2nd century A.D

question: What Greek authors used the term polus anarcticus?

question: Who refered to the South Pole as Antarctic Pole in the 13th century?

question: What book did Aristotle write in the 3rd century B.C.

question: What did Aristotle write in 530 B.C.?

question: What is the Roman name for the South Pole?

question: Who used Meteorology in his preserved world map?

question: What did Tyre of Marinus produce?
context: Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c. 350 B.C. Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A.D. The Roman authors Hyginus and Apuleius (1–2 centuries A.D.) used for the South Pole the romanized Greek name polus antarcticus, from which derived the Old French pole antartike (modern pôle antarctique) attested in 1270, and from there the Middle English pol antartik in a 1391 technical treatise by Geoffrey Chaucer (modern Antarctic Pole).

qas: question: In what do some scientists believe ozone depletion may have a role ?
answers: text: climatic change

question: What light does ozone absorb?
answers: text: ultraviolet radiation

question: How much cooling can ozone depletion cause over Antarctica?
answers: text: 6 °C

question: What can the wind changes due to cooling cause in the Antarctic ice?
answers: text: accelerated melting

question: What does ozone depletion cause in the southern atmosphere?
answers: text: enhanced polar vortex

question: What has played a dominant role in the climate change in Antarctica? 

question: What can cause a cooling of around 6°C in the local air?

question: What is a pole vortex?

question: What enhanced the pole vortex?
context: Some scientific studies suggest that ozone depletion may have a dominant role in governing climatic change in Antarctica (and a wider area of the Southern Hemisphere). Ozone absorbs large amounts of ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere. Ozone depletion over Antarctica can cause a cooling of around 6 °C in the local stratosphere. This cooling has the effect of intensifying the westerly winds which flow around the continent (the polar vortex) and thus prevents outflow of the cold air near the South Pole. As a result, the continental mass of the East Antarctic ice sheet is held at lower temperatures, and the peripheral areas of Antarctica, especially the Antarctic Peninsula, are subject to higher temperatures, which promote accelerated melting. Models also suggest that the ozone depletion/enhanced polar vortex effect also accounts for the recent increase in sea ice just offshore of the continent.

qas: question: Who has research stations in Antarctica?
answers: text: Several governments

question: What is the span of population density per million square kilometers of researchers in Antarctica?
answers: text: between 70 and 350

question: About long long do researchers stay when researching in Antarctica?
answers: text: one-year

question: What station has an Orthodox church representative?
answers: text: Bellingshausen Station

question: When did the Trinity Church begin its posting at Bellinshausen station?
answers: text: 2004

question: Who maintains perminent settlements on the continent?

question: What Antartcic Church closed in 2004?

question: Where are there 5,000 year round residents?

question: How many people are conducting research on nearby islands in the winter?

question: How many people are conducting research on nearby islands in the summer?

question: What is the population density of the surrounding islands?

question: What year did Trinity Orthodox open?

question: What station opened Trinity Orthodox?
context: Several governments maintain permanent manned research stations on the continent. The number of people conducting and supporting scientific research and other work on the continent and its nearby islands varies from about 1,000 in winter to about 5,000 in the summer, giving it a population density between 70 and 350 inhabitants per million square kilometres (180 and 900 per million square miles) at these times. Many of the stations are staffed year-round, the winter-over personnel typically arriving from their home countries for a one-year assignment. An Orthodox church—Trinity Church, opened in 2004 at the Russian Bellingshausen Station—is manned year-round by one or two priests, who are similarly rotated every year.

qas: question: What is the southern most continent?
answers: text: Antarctica

question: What is the size of Antarctica in square miles?
answers: text: 5,400,000

question: What is Antarctica's ranking among the continents?
answers: text: fifth-largest

question: How many miles long is Antarctica's coast line?
answers: text: 11,165

question: What continent is largely north of the Antarctic Circle?

question: What ocean does Antarctica surround?

question: What other oceansbesides the Southern Ocean does Antarctica surround?

question: What continent is 14,000,000 square miles?

question: What coninent is 1.3 times smaller than Europe?

question: What surrounds the Southern Ocean?

question: What continent covers more than 14,000,000 sq mi?

question: What continent is 3.1 times as large as Europe?

question: What measures 17,968 square miles?

question: What is positioned symmetrically around the South Pole?
context: Positioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle, Antarctica is the southernmost continent and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean; alternatively, it may be considered to be surrounded by the southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, or by the southern waters of the World Ocean. It covers more than 14,000,000 km2 (5,400,000 sq mi), making it the fifth-largest continent, about 1.3 times as large as Europe. The coastline measures 17,968 km (11,165 mi) and is mostly characterized by ice formations, as the following table shows:

qas: question: What sea plankton doe many sea creatures rely on to live?
answers: text: phytoplankton

question: What breed of penguin lives in Antarctica?
answers: text: emperor penguin

question: During what season does the emperor penguin breed?
answers: text: winter

question: What feature does the rockhopper penguin have around its eyes?
answers: text: feathers

question: Which penguin breeds the furterest south of all the penguin breeds?
answers: text: Adélie

question: What do the phytolankton depend on?

question: What animals live on the continent of Antarctica?

question: What is the only penguin that breeds on Antarctica?

question: What penguin breeds south of Antarctica?

question: What type of feathers do king penguins have?

question: What do marine animals directly rely on?

question: What is the Adelie penguin the only one to do during winter in Antarctica? 

question: What direction does the Emperor penguin go further than any other to breed?
context: Some species of marine animals exist and rely, directly or indirectly, on the phytoplankton. Antarctic sea life includes penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals. The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica, while the Adélie penguin breeds farther south than any other penguin. The rockhopper penguin has distinctive feathers around the eyes, giving the appearance of elaborate eyelashes. King penguins, chinstrap penguins, and gentoo penguins also breed in the Antarctic.

qas: question: What is the highest peak in Antarctica?
answers: text: Vinson Massif

question: How high is the Antarctic mountain Vinson Massif?
answers: text: 4,892 m

question: In what mountainous area of Antarctica is Vinson Massif?
answers: text: Ellsworth Mountains

question: What is the Earth's most southern volcano?
answers: text: Mount Erebus

question: What type of volcano was located in 2004 by researchers?
answers: text: underwater

question: What is the highest peak in the world?

question: What mountains are 4,892 ft high?

question: What is the worlds most active volcano?

question: Wha island has the southern most volcano in the world?

question: Who found the forst underwater volcano?

question: What is the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 ft?

question: How tall is Massif Vinson?

question: Where is Massif Vinson located?

question: What is Mount Ross considered to be?

question: What island had a volcanic eruption in 1907?
context: Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft), is located in the Ellsworth Mountains. Antarctica contains many other mountains, on both the main continent and the surrounding islands. Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano. Another well-known volcano is found on Deception Island, which is famous for a giant eruption in 1970. Minor eruptions are frequent and lava flow has been observed in recent years. Other dormant volcanoes may potentially be active. In 2004, a potentially active underwater volcano was found in the Antarctic Peninsula by American and Canadian researchers.

qas: question: When did negotiations start to regulate mining in Antarctica?
answers: text: 1983

question: What group led the fight to prevent mineral development in Antarctica?
answers: text: Greenpeace International,

question: When was the treaty to regulate mining agreed upon?
answers: text: 1988

question: Which two countries refused to ratify the treaty to regulate mineral use in Antarctica?
answers: text: Australia and France

question: What was the alternate treaty offered by Australia and France?
answers: text: Madrid Protocol

question: What began in 1938?

question: What does CARMAR stand for?

question: What year was the CARMAR adopted?

question: Who announced they would not ratify the CARMAR?

question: What was entered into force on 14 January 1983?
context: In 1983, the Antarctic Treaty Parties began negotiations on a convention to regulate mining in Antarctica. A coalition of international organizations launched a public pressure campaign to prevent any minerals development in the region, led largely by Greenpeace International, which established its own scientific station—World Park Base—in the Ross Sea region and conducted annual expeditions to document environmental effects of humans on Antarctica. In 1988, the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources (CRAMRA) was adopted. The following year, however, Australia and France announced that they would not ratify the convention, rendering it dead for all intents and purposes. They proposed instead that a comprehensive regime to protect the Antarctic environment be negotiated in its place. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the "Madrid Protocol") was negotiated as other countries followed suit and on 14 January 1998 it entered into force. The Madrid Protocol bans all mining in Antarctica, designating Antarctica a "natural reserve devoted to peace and science".

qas: question: What did most of Gondwana become when the polar ice melted?
answers: text: desert

question: What plants were abundant during this time?
answers: text: pteridosperms

question: What type of reptiles were common during the early Triassic?
answers: text: Synapsids

question: When did the Antarctic peninsula form?
answers: text: Jurassic period

question: During what period did Gondwana begin to break apart?
answers: text: Cretaceous

question: What caused polar ice caps to form on Gondwana?

question: What type of plamdt became abundent on Gondwana?

question: What type of animal was coomon during the Late Triassic?

question: What penninsula formed during the Triassic period?

question: Why did Eastern Antarctica become?

question: What type of rock was laid down in Eastern Gondwana?

question: What began to form during the years 204-166 Ma?

question: What types of trees and plants appeared during the Triassic period?

question: What period is marked by the years 166-46 Ma?
context: As a result of continued warming, the polar ice caps melted and much of Gondwana became a desert. In Eastern Antarctica, seed ferns or pteridosperms became abundant and large amounts of sandstone and shale were laid down at this time. Synapsids, commonly known as "mammal-like reptiles", were common in Antarctica during the Early Triassic and included forms such as Lystrosaurus. The Antarctic Peninsula began to form during the Jurassic period (206–146 Ma), and islands gradually rose out of the ocean. Ginkgo trees, conifers, bennettites, horsetails, ferns and cycads were plentiful during this period. In West Antarctica, coniferous forests dominated through the entire Cretaceous period (146–66 Ma), though southern beech became more prominent towards the end of this period. Ammonites were common in the seas around Antarctica, and dinosaurs were also present, though only three Antarctic dinosaur genera (Cryolophosaurus and Glacialisaurus, from the Hanson Formation, and Antarctopelta) have been described to date. It was during this era that Gondwana began to break up.

qas: question: What astronomical study is important research for Antarctica?
answers: text: Meteorites

question: What is the supposed source of most Antarctica meteorites?
answers: text: asteroids

question: When was the first meteorite found in Antarctica?
answers: text: 1912

question: What expedition found nine meteorites in 1969?
answers: text: Japanese

question: What is it about Antarctic meteorites that is different form meteorites found in other places?
answers: text: well-preserved.

question: What was first found in 1921?

question: What was the name of the 1921 meteorite?

question: What happened in 1996?

question: How many meteorites did the 1996 Japanese expedition find?
context: Meteorites from Antarctica are an important area of study of material formed early in the solar system; most are thought to come from asteroids, but some may have originated on larger planets. The first meteorite was found in 1912, and named the Adelie Land meteorite. In 1969, a Japanese expedition discovered nine meteorites. Most of these meteorites have fallen onto the ice sheet in the last million years. Motion of the ice sheet tends to concentrate the meteorites at blocking locations such as mountain ranges, with wind erosion bringing them to the surface after centuries beneath accumulated snowfall. Compared with meteorites collected in more temperate regions on Earth, the Antarctic meteorites are well-preserved.

qas: question: What location means that Antarctica get little solar radiation?
answers: text: South Pole

question: In what condition is most water in the Antarctica?
answers: text: ice

question: What is the usual condition of precipitation in the Antarctic?
answers: text: snow

question: What does the massed snow in Antarctica produce?
answers: text: giant ice sheet

question: What are ice streams otherwise called?
answers: text: glaciers

question: Why does Antarctica receive solar radiation?

question: What continent is a complete desert? 

question: What is next to the continental shelves?

question: What are temperatures like offshore to effect global cooling?
context: Due to its location at the South Pole, Antarctica receives relatively little solar radiation. This means that it is a very cold continent where water is mostly in the form of ice. Precipitation is low (most of Antarctica is a desert) and almost always in the form of snow, which accumulates and forms a giant ice sheet which covers the land. Parts of this ice sheet form moving glaciers known as ice streams, which flow towards the edges of the continent. Next to the continental shore are many ice shelves. These are floating extensions of outflowing glaciers from the continental ice mass. Offshore, temperatures are also low enough that ice is formed from seawater through most of the year. It is important to understand the various types of Antarctic ice to understand possible effects on sea levels and the implications of global cooling.

qas: question: Where did the first semi-permanent residents of the Antarctic area live?
answers: text: South Georgia

question: What was the profession of the residents of South Georgia?
answers: text: sealers

question: In what year did the sealers start staying on South Georgia?
answers: text: 1786

question: What was the nationality of most whalers?
answers: text: Norwegian

question: When did explorer Carl Anton Larsen become a British citizen?
answers: text: 1910

question: Who were the first permenat residents of regions near Antarctica?

question: When was the first perminant settlment established on South Georgia?

question: Who settled South Georgia in 1966?

question: What settlements were established on Antarctica?

question: What British citizens established Grtviken on Antarctica?

question: Who were the first permanent inhabitants of Antarctica?

question: What lasted until 1696?

question: What were the Norwegian settlements?

question: What did Captain Anon Carl Larsen found?

question: Who adopted British citizenship in 1901?
context: The first semi-permanent inhabitants of regions near Antarctica (areas situated south of the Antarctic Convergence) were British and American sealers who used to spend a year or more on South Georgia, from 1786 onward. During the whaling era, which lasted until 1966, the population of that island varied from over 1,000 in the summer (over 2,000 in some years) to some 200 in the winter. Most of the whalers were Norwegian, with an increasing proportion of Britons. The settlements included Grytviken, Leith Harbour, King Edward Point, Stromness, Husvik, Prince Olav Harbour, Ocean Harbour and Godthul. Managers and other senior officers of the whaling stations often lived together with their families. Among them was the founder of Grytviken, Captain Carl Anton Larsen, a prominent Norwegian whaler and explorer who, along with his family, adopted British citizenship in 1910.

qas: question: Where in Antarctica has warming been noticed?
answers: text: Antarctic Peninsula

question: How much has west Antarctica warmed per decade in the last 5o years?
answers: text: 0.1 °C

question: What do some researchers believe to be that cause of this warming?
answers: text: carbon dioxide emissions

question: What is thought to be the cause of glacier outflow?
answers: text: inflow of warm water

question: What is the thinking of the cause  of the Antarctic Peninsula sea level.
answers: text: atmospheric warming

question: Who published a 2007 study?

question: What has been the temperature trend of Antarctica per decade from 1959 to 2006?

question: What did the study note about the temperatures in East Antarctica? 

question: What has the warming in East Antarctica been offset by in West Antarctica?
context: Some of Antarctica has been warming up; particularly strong warming has been noted on the Antarctic Peninsula. A study by Eric Steig published in 2009 noted for the first time that the continent-wide average surface temperature trend of Antarctica is slightly positive at >0.05 °C (0.09 °F) per decade from 1957 to 2006. This study also noted that West Antarctica has warmed by more than 0.1 °C (0.2 °F) per decade in the last 50 years, and this warming is strongest in winter and spring. This is partly offset by autumn cooling in East Antarctica. There is evidence from one study that Antarctica is warming as a result of human carbon dioxide emissions, but this remains ambiguous. The amount of surface warming in West Antarctica, while large, has not led to appreciable melting at the surface, and is not directly affecting the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's contribution to sea level. Instead the recent increases in glacier outflow are believed to be due to an inflow of warm water from the deep ocean, just off the continental shelf. The net contribution to sea level from the Antarctic Peninsula is more likely to be a direct result of the much greater atmospheric warming there.

qas: question: What animal was greatly hunted during the 18th and 19th centuries?
answers: text: Antarctic fur seal

question: For whom is the Weddell seal named ?
answers: text: Sir James Weddell

question: What did  Sir James Weddell command?
answers: text: British sealing expeditions

question: What is a very important species in the Southern Ocean?
answers: text: Antarctic krill

question: Why is the krill so important to the Antarctic area?
answers: text: important food

question: What animal was heavily hunted in the 18 and 1900's?

question: What seal is named after the commander of American sealing expoditions?

question: What whaler had a seal named after him?

question: What is the keystone species of the Arctic Ocean?

question: What bird do leapard seals feed on?

question: What was hunted during 1819?

question: What countries did the 1819 sealers come from?

question: What is named after James Sir Weddell?

question: What was James Sir Weddell commander of?
context: The Antarctic fur seal was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by sealers from the United States and the United Kingdom. The Weddell seal, a "true seal", is named after Sir James Weddell, commander of British sealing expeditions in the Weddell Sea. Antarctic krill, which congregate in large schools, is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, and is an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, penguins, albatrosses and many other birds.

qas: question: When did the Environmental Protocol become effective?
answers: text: 1998

question: What is the main concern of the Protocol?
answers: text: conservation

question: What is seen as a major risk to Antarctica?
answers: text: non-native species

question: What group advises the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting?
answers: text: Committee for Environmental Protection

question: Besides conservation, what is the Environmental Protocol's goal to manage?
answers: text: biodiversity

question: What is the Environomental Protection Protocol to the Treaty Antarctic also known as?

question: What came into force in 1988?

question: What is the Environmental Protection Protocol to the Treaty Antarctic?

question: Where is the main concern about native species from?
context: The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (also known as the Environmental Protocol or Madrid Protocol) came into force in 1998, and is the main instrument concerned with conservation and management of biodiversity in Antarctica. The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting is advised on environmental and conservation issues in Antarctica by the Committee for Environmental Protection. A major concern within this committee is the risk to Antarctica from unintentional introduction of non-native species from outside the region.

qas: question: What does the Protocol on Environmental Protection seek to regulate?
answers: text: resources

question: In what year was an agreement reached to ban mining in Antarctica?
answers: text: 1998

question: When will the mining ban be reviewed?
answers: text: 2048

question: What is the major economic activity near Antarctica?
answers: text: trading of fish

question: How many tonnes of fish were reported caught in 2000-01?
answers: text: 112,934 tonnes

question: What minerals have been found in quantities large enough to exploit?

question: What does the 1919 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty restrict?

question: What was reached in 1989?

question: How many tonnes did Antarctic fisheries report in 2000?
context: Although coal, hydrocarbons, iron ore, platinum, copper, chromium, nickel, gold and other minerals have been found, they have not been in large enough quantities to exploit. The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty also restricts a struggle for resources. In 1998, a compromise agreement was reached to place an indefinite ban on mining, to be reviewed in 2048, further limiting economic development and exploitation. The primary economic activity is the capture and offshore trading of fish. Antarctic fisheries in 2000–01 reported landing 112,934 tonnes.

qas: question: How do the meteorites found in Antarctica add to knowledge about the solar system?
answers: text: better understanding

question: Beside rare types of meteorites, what other types of meteorites have been found in Antarctica?
answers: text: New types

question: From where in the solar system could the meteorites have come?
answers: text: Moon

question: About what nearby planet could the Antarctic meteorites hold data?
answers: text: Mars

question: What do meteorites absorb that can be used to understand how old the meteorite is?
answers: text: cosmic radiation

question: What is AHL84010?

question: Who discovered the AHL84010 meteorite? 

question: What controversy surrounds the AHL84010?
context: This large collection of meteorites allows a better understanding of the abundance of meteorite types in the solar system and how meteorites relate to asteroids and comets. New types of meteorites and rare meteorites have been found. Among these are pieces blasted off the Moon, and probably Mars, by impacts. These specimens, particularly ALH84001 discovered by ANSMET, are at the center of the controversy about possible evidence of microbial life on Mars. Because meteorites in space absorb and record cosmic radiation, the time elapsed since the meteorite hit the Earth can be determined from laboratory studies. The elapsed time since fall, or terrestrial residence age, of a meteorite represents more information that might be useful in environmental studies of Antarctic ice sheets.

qas: question: When did the Larsen-B ice shelf collapse?
answers: text: 2002

question: What Antarctic ice shelf collapsed in 2008?
answers: text: Wilkins Ice Shelf

question: When did the most widespread melting of ice occur?
answers: text: 2005

question: How large was the ice chunk that melted and refroze?
answers: text: California

question: How high could the temperatures have risen to cause the melting?
answers: text: 5 °C

question: What happened to the B-larsen ice shelf in 2002?

question: When did 570 sq mi of ice from the Wilkins Ice Shelf collapse?

question: Where did 15,000 sq mi of ice remain?

question: What remaining ice collapsed on 9 April 2005?
context: In 2002 the Antarctic Peninsula's Larsen-B ice shelf collapsed. Between 28 February and 8 March 2008, about 570 km2 (220 sq mi) of ice from the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the southwest part of the peninsula collapsed, putting the remaining 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq mi) of the ice shelf at risk. The ice was being held back by a "thread" of ice about 6 km (4 mi) wide, prior to its collapse on 5 April 2009. According to NASA, the most widespread Antarctic surface melting of the past 30 years occurred in 2005, when an area of ice comparable in size to California briefly melted and refroze; this may have resulted from temperatures rising to as high as 5 °C (41 °F).

qas: question: When was the first time humans visited Antarctica?
answers: text: 19th century

question: What was Antarctica presumed to be by the ancient thinkers?
answers: text: balance

question: What did Ptolemy suggest that a southern land mass would do to preserve? 
answers: text: symmetry

question: Of what did early explores think Australia and South America were part?
answers: text: Antarctica

question: Early geographers thought that Antarctica was what in size?
answers: text: larger

question: When was Antarctica last seen by humans?

question: What is the vast continent in the far north?

question: Who suggested the idea of Terrs Australis in the 1st cuntury B.C.?

question: What was discovered in the 1700's?

question: Who believed thet Antarctica was smaller then its actual size?

question: What continent has an indigenous population that arrived in the 19th century?

question: What is Australis Terra?

question: Who suggested Australis Terra?
context: Antarctica has no indigenous population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. However, belief in the existence of a Terra Australis—a vast continent in the far south of the globe to "balance" the northern lands of Europe, Asia and North Africa—had existed since the times of Ptolemy (1st century AD), who suggested the idea to preserve the symmetry of all known landmasses in the world. Even in the late 17th century, after explorers had found that South America and Australia were not part of the fabled "Antarctica", geographers believed that the continent was much larger than its actual size.

qas: question: How much of Antarctica is covered by ice?
answers: text: 98%

question: How thick is the ice that covers Antarctica?
answers: text: 1.6 km

question: How much of Earth's ice is in Antarctica?
answers: text: 90%

question: How much of the Earth's fresh water is held in Antarctica?
answers: text: 70%

question: What is the amount of precipitation per year in the interior of Antarctica?
answers: text: 20 mm

question: What ice sheet covers all of Antarctica?

question: What ice sheet averages at least1 kilometer thick?

question: What continent has 90% of the worlds fresh water?

question: What continent has 70% of the worlds ice?

question: Where on Antarctica is the ppercipitation as low as .8 mm?

question: What is, on average, 1.6 mi thick?

question: What is 90% of Antarctica covered by?

question: What does Antarctica have 98% of for the world?

question: How much of Antarctica is fresh water?

question: How would the sea levels rise 200 m?
context: About 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, a sheet of ice averaging at least 1.6 km (1.0 mi) thick. The continent has about 90% of the world's ice (and thereby about 70% of the world's fresh water). If all of this ice were melted, sea levels would rise about 60 m (200 ft). In most of the interior of the continent, precipitation is very low, down to 20 mm (0.8 in) per year; in a few "blue ice" areas precipitation is lower than mass loss by sublimation and so the local mass balance is negative. In the dry valleys, the same effect occurs over a rock base, leading to a desiccated landscape.

qas: question: What lake is thought to contain microbial life?
answers: text: Lake Vostok

question: To what does the frozen surface of Lake Vostok resemble?
answers: text: Europa

question: With what is Europa associated??
answers: text: Jupiter's moon

question: When did NASA go on an expedition to Lake Untersee?
answers: text: 7 February 2008

question: For what was NASA searching?
answers: text: extremophiles

question: What lake on Europe may conatin microbial life?

question: What planet might contain life?

question: What lake has a frozen surface similar to Jupiter?

question: Who emberked on a mission to Lake Vostok in 2008?

question: What was NASA searching for in Lake Vostok?

question: What was drilled to about 400 ft?

question: What might Vostok's Lake contain?

question: What do the waters in the lake share similarities with?

question: Where did a NASA team go on 8 February 2007?
context: There is some evidence, in the form of ice cores drilled to about 400 m (1,300 ft) above the water line, that Lake Vostok's waters may contain microbial life. The frozen surface of the lake shares similarities with Jupiter's moon, Europa. If life is discovered in Lake Vostok, it would strengthen the argument for the possibility of life on Europa. On 7 February 2008, a NASA team embarked on a mission to Lake Untersee, searching for extremophiles in its highly alkaline waters. If found, these resilient creatures could further bolster the argument for extraterrestrial life in extremely cold, methane-rich environments.

qas: question: In what period did Africa beak off from Antarctica?
answers: text: Jurassic

question: When was Antarctica still joined to Australia?
answers: text: end of the Cretaceous

question: What type of climate did Antarctica have in the Cretaceous period?
answers: text: subtropical

question: When did Australia separate from Antarctica?
answers: text: Eocene epoch

question: After the division from Australia, what began to appear?
answers: text: ice

question: What seperated from Antarctica in the Cretaceous?

question: What did Antactica connect to in the Jurassic?

question: When did Antarctica have a tropical cimate?

question: What currents began isolating Australia in 66 Ma

question: What happened around 106 Ma?

question: When did New-Australia Guinea separate from Antarctica? 

question: What took place about 43 million years ago?

question: What was found to be 670ppm about 34 million years ago?
context: Africa separated from Antarctica in the Jurassic, around 160 Ma, followed by the Indian subcontinent in the early Cretaceous (about 125 Ma). By the end of the Cretaceous, about 66 Ma, Antarctica (then connected to Australia) still had a subtropical climate and flora, complete with a marsupial fauna. In the Eocene epoch, about 40 Ma Australia-New Guinea separated from Antarctica, so that latitudinal currents could isolate Antarctica from Australia, and the first ice began to appear. During the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event about 34 million years ago, CO2 levels have been found to be about 760 ppm and had been decreasing from earlier levels in the thousands of ppm.

qas: question: Which of the the poles is colder?
answers: text: Antarctica

question: How high is the continent of Antarctica above sea level?
answers: text: 3,000 m

question: How does the Arctic Ocean warm the Arctic?
answers: text: warmth is transferred

question: What contributes to the Antarctic cold?
answers: text: orbital distance

question: What does temperature do with elevation?
answers: text: decreases

question: What is one reason the Actric colder than Antarctica?

question: How far above sea level is the Arctic?

question: What increases with elevation in the tropasphere?

question: How does the Arctic Ocean warm Antarctica?

question: How many reasons are given for the Arctic being colder than Antarctica?

question: What continent is 3,000 ft above sea level?

question: What does the distance orbital contribute to?

question: What continent is 9,800 m above sea level?
context: Antarctica is colder than the Arctic for three reasons. First, much of the continent is more than 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, and temperature decreases with elevation in the troposphere. Second, the Arctic Ocean covers the north polar zone: the ocean's relative warmth is transferred through the icepack and prevents temperatures in the Arctic regions from reaching the extremes typical of the land surface of Antarctica. Third, the Earth is at aphelion in July (i.e., the Earth is farthest from the Sun in the Antarctic winter), and the Earth is at perihelion in January (i.e., the Earth is closest to the Sun in the Antarctic summer). The orbital distance contributes to a colder Antarctic winter (and a warmer Antarctic summer) but the first two effects have more impact.

qas: question: Who was the first person born south of the 60th parallel?
answers: text: Emilio Marcos Palma

question: Where is the continental limit of Antarctica?
answers: text: 60th parallel south

question: When was Palma born?
answers: text: 1978

question: What was the Palma family sent to Antarctica to determine?
answers: text: suitable for family life

question: What continental limit is set below the 60th parallel?

question: Who was born in 20009

question: Where was Juan Pablo Camacho born in 1978?

question: What was Marcos Emilio Palma the first to do?

question: What mainland was Marcos Emilio Palma the first to be born on?

question: Who was born in 1987?

question: Who was born in 1948 at the Frei Monalva Station?

question: How many children were born in Antarctica as of 2011?
context: Emilio Marcos Palma was the first person born south of the 60th parallel south (the continental limit according to the Antarctic Treaty), as well as the first one born on the Antarctic mainland, in 1978 at Base Esperanza, on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula; his parents were sent there along with seven other families by the Argentine government to determine if the continent was suitable for family life. In 1984, Juan Pablo Camacho was born at the Frei Montalva Station, becoming the first Chilean born in Antarctica. Several bases are now home to families with children attending schools at the station. As of 2009, eleven children were born in Antarctica (south of the 60th parallel south): eight at the Argentine Esperanza Base and three at the Chilean Frei Montalva Station.

qas: question: How many species of fungi have been found on Antarctica?
answers: text: 1150

question: How many of the extant fungi in Antarctica are lichen-forming?
answers: text: 400

question: What type of fungi help shape rock formations in Antarctica?
answers: text: cryptoendoliths

question: What has the study of fungi in Antarctica shown about these organisms?
answers: text: adaptations

question: How is it postulated that Mars life might have evolved?
answers: text: similar to Antarctic

question: How many species of fungi are there at the South Pole?

question: Where are there 400 non-lichen forming fungi?

question: Where are there 750 lichen-forming fungi?

question: What type of fungi help break down rock in Antarctica?

question: Where were 750 lichen-forming fungi found?

question: Where were 400 non-lichen-forming fungi found?

question: What has significantly contributed to shaping the Dry McMurdo Valleys?

question: What type of environment is the Dr McMurdo Valleys?
context: About 1150 species of fungi have been recorded from Antarctica, of which about 750 are non-lichen-forming and 400 are lichen-forming. Some of these species are cryptoendoliths as a result of evolution under extreme conditions, and have significantly contributed to shaping the impressive rock formations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and surrounding mountain ridges. The apparently simple morphology, scarcely differentiated structures, metabolic systems and enzymes still active at very low temperatures, and reduced life cycles shown by such fungi make them particularly suited to harsh environments such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In particular, their thick-walled and strongly melanized cells make them resistant to UV light. Those features can also be observed in algae and cyanobacteria, suggesting that these are adaptations to the conditions prevailing in Antarctica. This has led to speculation that, if life ever occurred on Mars, it might have looked similar to Antarctic fungi such as Cryomyces minteri. Some of these fungi are also apparently endemic to Antarctica. Endemic Antarctic fungi also include certain dung-inhabiting species which have had to evolve in response to the double challenge of extreme cold while growing on dung, and the need to survive passage through the gut of warm-blooded animals.

qas: question: What did the British claim in 2012?
answers: text: Queen Elizabeth Land

question: To what was the claim of land in tribute?
answers: text: Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

question: What was the response of the Argentine response to the British land claim?
answers: text: protest

question: Of what war was 2012 the anniversary?
answers: text: Falklands War

question: When did the British claim Queen Elizabeth Land in Antarctica?
answers: text: 18 December 2012

question: What happened on 12 December 2018?

question: What happened on 12 December 2012?

question: What islands were fought over in the 30th Falklands War?
context: The Argentine, British and Chilean claims all overlap, and have caused friction. On 18 December 2012, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office named a previously unnamed area Queen Elizabeth Land in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. On 22 December 2012, the UK ambassador to Argentina, John Freeman, was summoned to the Argentine government as protest against the claim. Argentine–UK relations had previously been damaged throughout 2012 due to disputes over the sovereignty of the nearby Falkland Islands, and the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.

qas: question: The entry of whom has caused some worry about the welfare of Antarctica?
answers: text: visitors

question: What do environmentalists want enacted?
answers: text: stricter regulations

question: What kind of tourist limit has been asked for by environmentalists?
answers: text: tourism quota

question: What have the authorities produced in response to these requests?
answers: text: site use guidelines

question: When did an Air New Zealand crash on Mount Erebus?
answers: text: 1979

question: What flight crashed in 1997?

question: How many people died in the 1997 Flight 901 crash?

question: Who resumed commercial overflights to Antarctica to Australia in 1990?

question: Where did sightseeing flights that did land operate out of?
context: There has been some concern over the potential adverse environmental and ecosystem effects caused by the influx of visitors. Some environmentalists and scientists have made a call for stricter regulations for ships and a tourism quota. The primary response by Antarctic Treaty Parties has been to develop, through their Committee for Environmental Protection and in partnership with IAATO, "site use guidelines" setting landing limits and closed or restricted zones on the more frequently visited sites. Antarctic sightseeing flights (which did not land) operated out of Australia and New Zealand until the fatal crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 in 1979 on Mount Erebus, which killed all 257 aboard. Qantas resumed commercial overflights to Antarctica from Australia in the mid-1990s.

qas: question: What group of scientists study tectonics?
answers: text: Geologists

question: Which science is concerned with the study of the dynamics of ice?
answers: text: Glaciologists

question: Who is interested in the effects of harsh environment on humans?
answers: text: Biologists

question: What kind of observations use  the high elevations and thin atmosphere for viewing space?
answers: text: astronomical

question: Where is the largest neutrino telescope on Earth?
answers: text: Amundsen–Scott station.

question: What do astrophysicists at the Scott-Aumundsen South Pole Station study?

question: What was built 2 mi below the Amundsen-Scott station?

question: Why are astronomical observations better made from most surface locations?

question: What does the 2 mile ice serve as for the telescope?
context: Researchers include biologists, geologists, oceanographers, physicists, astronomers, glaciologists, and meteorologists. Geologists tend to study plate tectonics, meteorites from outer space, and resources from the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. Glaciologists in Antarctica are concerned with the study of the history and dynamics of floating ice, seasonal snow, glaciers, and ice sheets. Biologists, in addition to examining the wildlife, are interested in how harsh temperatures and the presence of people affect adaptation and survival strategies in a wide variety of organisms. Medical physicians have made discoveries concerning the spreading of viruses and the body's response to extreme seasonal temperatures. Astrophysicists at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station study the celestial dome and cosmic microwave background radiation. Many astronomical observations are better made from the interior of Antarctica than from most surface locations because of the high elevation, which results in a thin atmosphere; low temperature, which minimizes the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere; and absence of light pollution, thus allowing for a view of space clearer than anywhere else on Earth. Antarctic ice serves as both the shield and the detection medium for the largest neutrino telescope in the world, built 2 km (1.2 mi) below Amundsen–Scott station.