Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility
Abstract Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility (Southern Pole of Inaccessibility (SPI)) is the point on the Antarctic continent farthest from its edge. Existing literature exhibits disagreement over its location. Using two revisions of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s Antarctic Digita...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247421000620 2024-03-03T08:38:30+00:00 Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility Rees, Gareth Gerrish, Laura Fox, Adrian Barnes, Richard 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000620 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247421000620 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Polar Record volume 57 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2021 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000620 2024-02-08T08:36:46Z Abstract Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility (Southern Pole of Inaccessibility (SPI)) is the point on the Antarctic continent farthest from its edge. Existing literature exhibits disagreement over its location. Using two revisions of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s Antarctic Digital Database, we calculate modern-day positions for the SPI around 10 years apart, based on the position of the “outer” Antarctic coastline, i.e. its boundary with the ocean. These show that the position of the SPI in the year 2010 was around 83° 54’ S, 64° 53’ E, shifting on the order of 1 km per year as a result of changes of a similar magnitude in the Amery, Ronne-Filchner and Ross Ice Shelves. Excepting a position of the SPI calculated by British Antarctic Survey in 2005, to which it is very close, our newly calculated position differs by 150–900 km from others reported in the literature. We also consider the “inner” SPI, defined by the coastline with floating ice removed. The position of this SPI in 2010 is estimated as 83°37’ S, 53° 43’ E, differing significantly from other reported positions. Earlier cartographic data are probably not sufficiently accurate to allow its rate of change to be calculated meaningfully. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic British Antarctic Survey Ice Shelves Polar Record Cambridge University Press Antarctic The Antarctic Amery ENVELOPE(-94.063,-94.063,56.565,56.565) Polar Record 57 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development Rees, Gareth Gerrish, Laura Fox, Adrian Barnes, Richard Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Abstract Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility (Southern Pole of Inaccessibility (SPI)) is the point on the Antarctic continent farthest from its edge. Existing literature exhibits disagreement over its location. Using two revisions of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s Antarctic Digital Database, we calculate modern-day positions for the SPI around 10 years apart, based on the position of the “outer” Antarctic coastline, i.e. its boundary with the ocean. These show that the position of the SPI in the year 2010 was around 83° 54’ S, 64° 53’ E, shifting on the order of 1 km per year as a result of changes of a similar magnitude in the Amery, Ronne-Filchner and Ross Ice Shelves. Excepting a position of the SPI calculated by British Antarctic Survey in 2005, to which it is very close, our newly calculated position differs by 150–900 km from others reported in the literature. We also consider the “inner” SPI, defined by the coastline with floating ice removed. The position of this SPI in 2010 is estimated as 83°37’ S, 53° 43’ E, differing significantly from other reported positions. Earlier cartographic data are probably not sufficiently accurate to allow its rate of change to be calculated meaningfully. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rees, Gareth Gerrish, Laura Fox, Adrian Barnes, Richard |
author_facet |
Rees, Gareth Gerrish, Laura Fox, Adrian Barnes, Richard |
author_sort |
Rees, Gareth |
title |
Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility |
title_short |
Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility |
title_full |
Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility |
title_fullStr |
Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility |
title_full_unstemmed |
Finding Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility |
title_sort |
finding antarctica’s pole of inaccessibility |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000620 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247421000620 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-94.063,-94.063,56.565,56.565) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Amery |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Amery |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic British Antarctic Survey Ice Shelves Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic British Antarctic Survey Ice Shelves Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 57 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000620 |
container_title |
Polar Record |
container_volume |
57 |
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1792506904903155712 |