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: answers: desert
question: What type of land is Antarctica considered to be?

answers: 200 mm (8 in)
question: What is Antarctica's annual precipitation along the coast?

answers: −63 °C (−81 °F)
question: What is Antarctica's average temperature during the coldest part of the year?

answers: anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000
question: Approximately how many people live throughout the year at research stations across Antarctica?

answers: mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades
question: What are some animals native to Antarctica?

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

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

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

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

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

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: answers: the Andes mountain range of South America
question: What does West Antarctica most resemble geologically?

answers: by uplift and metamorphism of sea bed sediments
question: How was the Antarctic Peninsula formed?

answers: late Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic
question: During what eras was the Antarctic Peninsula formed?

answers: andesite and rhyolite volcanics
question: What are the most common rocks found in West Antarctica?

answers: Marie Byrd Land and Alexander Island
question: Where has evidence of volcanic activity been discovered in Antarctica?

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

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

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

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

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

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: answers: Australia
question: What country was given the name Terra Australis instead of Antarctica?

answers: Explorer Matthew Flinders
question: Who was credited with popularizing the use of name Terra Australis to Australia?

answers: 1814
question: In what year did Matthew Flinders write his book A Voyage to Terra Australis?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

answers: Southern Ocean
question: What ocean surrounds Antarctica?

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

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

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

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

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

answers: frozen desert
question: What is Antarctica topographically ?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

answers: extremophiles
question: For what was NASA searching?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

answers: 1978
question: When was Palma born?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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