East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

, lying primarily in the Eastern Hemisphere south of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, and separated from West Antarctica by the

Transantarctic Mountains The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) comprise a mountain range of uplifted rock (primarily sedimentary) in Antarctica which extends, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria Land to Coats L ...

. It is generally greater in elevation than West Antarctica, and includes the Gamburtsev Mountain Range in the center. The geographic

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

is located within East Antarctica. Apart from small areas of the coast, East Antarctica is permanently covered by ice and it has relatively low

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

, with only a small number of species of terrestrial plants, animals,

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

, and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s. The coasts are the breeding ground for various seabirds and penguins, and the leopard seal, Weddell seal, elephant seal, crabeater seal and Ross seal breed on the surrounding pack ice in summer.

Location and description

Almost completely covered in thick, permanent ice, East Antarctica comprises

Coats Land Coats Land is a region in Antarctica which lies westward of Queen Maud Land and forms the eastern shore of the Weddell Sea, extending in a general northeast–southwest direction between 20°00′W and 36°00′W. The northeast part was discover ...

Queen Maud Land Queen Maud Land () is a roughly region of Antarctica Territorial claims in Antarctica, claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20th meridian west, 20° west, specifically the Caird Coast, ...

, Enderby Land, Kemp Land, Mac. Robertson Land,

Princess Elizabeth Land Princess Elizabeth Land is the sector of Antarctica between longitude 73rd meridian east, 73° east and Cape Penck (at 87°43' east). The sector is claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, although this claim is not wi ...

, Wilhelm II Land, Queen Mary Land, Wilkes Land,

Adélie Land Adélie Land ( ) or Adélie Coast is a Territorial claims in Antarctica, claimed territory of France located on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a portion of the Southern Ocean coastline all the way inland to the South Pole. Franc ...

, George V Land, Oates Land and

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78th parallel south, 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Ant ...

. All but a small portion of this region lies within the Eastern Hemisphere, a fact that has suggested the name. The name has been in existence for more than 110 years (Balch, 1902; Nordenskjöld, 1904), but its greatest use followed the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; ), also referred to as the third International Polar Year, was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War w ...

(1957–58) and explorations disclosing that the

provide a useful regional separation of East Antarctica and West Antarctica. The name was approved in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

(US-ACAN) in 1962. East Antarctica is generally higher than West Antarctica, and is considered the coldest place on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. The subglacial Gamburtsev Mountain Range, about the size of the European Alps, in the center of East Antarctica, are believed to have been the nucleation site for the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, just underneath Dome A.

Flora and fauna

Very little of East Antarctica is not covered with

ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

. The small areas that remain free of ice ( Antarctic oasis), including the McMurdo Dry Valleys inland, constitute a tundra-type

region known as Maudlandia Antarctic

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

, after

. There are no trees or shrubs, as only very limited plant life can survive here; the flora consists of

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

, and

that are adapted to the cold and wind, and cling to rocks. The coasts are home to seabirds, penguins, and seals ( Pinnipeds), which feed in the surrounding

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

, including the

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...

, which famously breeds in the cold, dark

winter. Seabirds of the coast include southern fulmar ''( Fulmarus glacialoides)'', the scavenging southern giant petrel ''( Macronectes giganteus)'', Cape petrel ''( Daption capense)'', snow petrel ''( Pagodroma nivea)'', the small Wilson's storm-petrel ''( Oceanites oceanicus)'', the large south polar skua ''( Catharacta maccormicki)'', and Antarctic petrel ''( Thalassoica antarctica)''. The seals of the Antarctic Ocean include leopard seal ''(Hydrurga leptonyx)'', Weddell seal ''(Leptonychotes weddellii)'', the huge southern elephant seal ''(Mirounga leonina)'', crabeater seal ''(Lobodon carcinophagus)'' and Ross seal ('' Ommatophoca rossii''). There are no large land animals but

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

springtail Springtails (class Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern Hexapoda, hexapods that are no longer considered insects. Although the three lineages are sometimes grouped together in a class called Entognatha because they have in ...

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...

s, and

midge A midge is any small fly, including species in several family (biology), families of non-mosquito nematoceran Diptera. Midges are found (seasonally or otherwise) on practically every land area outside permanently arid deserts and the frigid ...

s live on the mosses and lichens. File:Macronectes giganteus -East Falkland -flying-8b-4c.jpg, Macronectes giganteus File:Antarctic Sound-2016-Brown Bluff–Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) 05.jpg, '' Hydrurga leptonyx'' File:2021-06 Amsterdam Island - Southern elephant seal 09.jpg, Mirounga leonina

Threats and preservation

The remote and extremely cold bulk of Antarctica remains almost entirely untouched by human intervention. The area is protected by the

Antarctic Treaty System The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms ...

which bans industrial development, waste disposal and nuclear testing, while the Barwick Valley, one of the Dry Valleys, Mount Rittmann, and Cryptogam Ridge on Mount Melbourne are specially protected areas for their undisturbed plant life.

References

External links

* World Wildlife Fund, C. M. Hogan, S. Draggan. (2011
''Marielandia Antarctic tundra.''
in C. J. Cleveland, ed., Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington, DC {{Authority control . Antarctic ecoregions Tundra Geography of Antarctica

Location and description

Flora and fauna

Threats and preservation

See also

References

External links