The continent of Antarctica is home to a uniquely beautiful and harsh environment that has changed little in the last 30 million years. The continent, approximately twice the size of Australia, lies mainly within the Antarctic circle and is surrounded by ocean. It is covered almost entirely by a sheet of ice and snow which has an average thickness of approximately 6,500 feet, comprising slightly more than 90% of the worlds ice and 70% of the worlds freshwater resources. This thick sheet of ice - also known as the ice cap - reflects most of the heat generated by the sun back into the atmosphere, leaving the continent with an annual mean temperature of -57º Fahrenheit. Antarctica is the worlds coldest and most pristine environment. The continent is also the driest and windiest landmass on Earth; with winds reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour and areas where rain has not fallen in millions of years. Antarctica also is the highest continent on earth, with an average elevation of 7,380 feet.
Antarcticas serenely primitive wilderness faces an uncertain future as debate continues over the question of tapping into the continents wealth of mineral resources. Beginning in the early 1950s, scientists began to notice the value inherent in such an unusual and largely undiscovered continent and began establishing research stations there. By 1958, the International Geophysical Year (IGY) saw twelve countries establish over 60 bases, both on and around the Antarctic continent, with some countries claiming parts of Antarctica as sovereign territory. The countries initially involved in the scientific body known as the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) included the United States, Chile, Argentina, Norway, France, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Belgium, Russia and Japan. SCAR now includes Germany and Poland as members of the organization which aims to coordinate a number of scientific and working group programs and to further facilitate the sharing and planning of scientific information relating to Antarctic research, such as Climate Change.
The successful establishment of SCAR and the IGY in Antarctica was due in large part to cooperation between the countries involved, and led directly to the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, which has administered Antarctic affairs since 1961 when it officially entered into force. The Antarctic Treaty, signed during mounting Cold War tensions, successfully banned all military activity, nuclear testing, and the dumping of radioactive materials on the continent. The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, also known as the Madrid Protocol, entered into force in 1998 and serves as an additional mechanism for ensuring the protection of the Antarctic environment. The Madrid Protocol goes further than the original treaty as it designates Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science and places a moratorium on mining and drilling for oil for a minimum of 50 years. The Protocol sets forth basic principles and detailed, mandatory rules which apply to all human activities in Antarctica.
The call for an environmental protocol to the Antarctic Treaty came after scientists discovered large deposits of natural resources such as coal, natural gas and offshore oil reserves in the early 1980s. Antarctica is considered to be part of the theoretical super-continent known as Gondwanaland, which separated near the end of the Paleozoic era and consisted of South America, Africa and Australia. And, because it once was completely covered in vegetation, many scientists believe it may hold one of the last supergiant oil fields yet to be discovered. The continental shelf of Antarctica is considered to hold the regions greatest potential for oil exploration projects, and although estimates vary as to the abundance of oil in Antarctica, the Weddell and Ross Sea areas alone are expected to possess 50 billion barrels of oil - an amount roughly equivalent to that of Alaskas estimated reserves. However, Antarcticas extreme conditions make oil field accessibility in many areas economically problematic.