Princess Elisabeth Antarctica

Mountain Ranges

The mountain ranges of East Antarctica are among the three major mountain ranges of the continent. However, while most of the mountains of Antarctica are located under the ice, the mountain ranges near the Princess Elisabeth Station reach above the ice, making it the ideal terrain for geological studies.

Dry Valleys

The Dry Valleys of Antarctica owe their name to the fact that they don't receive snowfall or other moisture. The place is relevant to scientists for its simple ecosystems, but also for the unique geological formations and processes occurring there.

Polar Plateau

The Antarctic Plateau cover an area of almost 1000km² of Antarctic and features almost no natural life forms. However, because of the dry air and the low wind speeds, the area is ideal for astronomists to make their observations.

Lakes

Several frozen lakes dot the surface of the valleys in Antarctica, some of which are over 30 meters deep. The lakes are particularly interesting to researchers because of the organisms growing on and in the ice cover, in the water, and on the bottom of the lakes, as well as the algal mats found on lake floors.

Ice Sheet

The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the Earth's greatest ice mass, containing 90% of the world's freshwater supplies. Taking ice cores of this phenomenal ice mass allows palaeoclimatologists to reconstruct the Earth's past climates in an effort to better understand the climate mechanisms.

Ice Shelf

The ice shelf is the part of the ice sheet that extends over the ocean, and is not to be mistaken for sea ice. One of the most interesting features of the ice shelf is the grounding line, where glaciologists can study the contact point between the ice shelf and the continent at its junction with the ocean.

Coastal Ice Rise

Ice rises are islands covered by a thick layer of grounded ice, it is characterized by a local ice flow sticking out within an ice shelf. These islands act like brakes on the ice flow from the ice shelf, which makes for a specific flow regime that is radically different from the rest of the ice shelf.

Fast Ice

Fast ice is the part of sea ice that has frozen onto the sea ice that has frozen along coasts ("fastened" to them) along the shoals, or to the sea floor over shallow parts of the continental shelf, and extends out from land into sea. In Antarctica, fast ice may also extend between grounded icebergs.

Coastal Polynia

Coastal polynya are semi-permanent areas of open water in sea ice which form just beyond grounded ice. The main cause for these to form in Antarctica are the katabatic  winds of Antarctica.