Having always been fascinated by these singular landscapes, Sergio Rossi reconstructs some of the episodes that have marked the exploration of these territories, such as the dramatic race between Amundsen and Scott to conquer the South Pole, and Captain Shackleton's odyssey to save his crew from certain death. But also modern trips including his own to these remote areas, explaining many aspects of the current science and political competition that is underway.

The book leads us on an entertaining overview of all the problems and opportunities that the planet's most forgotten continent offers to humans. A remote mass of ice upon which our future as a species depends and which we cannot continue to ignore any longer.

Autorentext

Sergio Rossi is an Associate professor at DiSTeBA (Università del Salento) and Permanent Professor of Labomar (Universidade Federal do Cearà) , specialized in marine natural resources and biological oceanography. His main subjects are health status bioindicators of benthic coastal populations, energy fluxes in the bentho-pelagic coupling processes, sescape restoration, blue carbon and the management and conservation of wild marine fauna. Sergio Rossi has more than 140 SCI publications, has participated in more than 60 national and international congresses and in 50 scientific and applied projects. He is also a scientific journalist and writer, with 10 published books (Oceans in Decline, Copernicus, Springer-Nature, among others).

Inhalt

Table of Contents:

Foreword

1. The continent at end of the world

2. Brief history of an arduous discovery

3. Paleoclimate: the importance of Antarctica

4. Survival Lessons: Mars on Earth

5. Glaciers in perpetual motion: where they arise

   the icebergs

6. The Antarctic sea ice

7. Microbes

8. Ice, algae, krill

   9. Life in the dark background: explosion of diversity

   under the ice

9. Birds at the end of the world

10. The great mammals of the white continent

11. Climate change: not so isolated

12. What happened in Larsen?

13. Organisms and climate change

14. The ozone layer and Antarctica

15. Contaminants in the spotless

16. The last resort

17. Remote fishing grounds

18. Ecotourism and invasive species

19. The Antarctic Treaty

20. Antarctic international bases

21. Live on an icebreaker oceanographic vessel

22. Visions of the last virgin stronghold

    Epilogue