The Antarctic flora is a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of Gondwana. It is now found on several separate areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern South America, southernmost Africa, New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia. Joseph Dalton Hooker was the first to notice similarities in the flora and speculated that Antarctica had served as either a source or a transitional point, and that land masses now separated may have formerly been adjacent.
Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and may refer to:
MS Prinsendam is a cruise ship for Holland America Line and is nicknamed the Elegant Explorer. She was launched in 1988 as Royal Viking Sun for the Royal Viking Line, and was renamed "Seabourn Sun" when Seabourn Cruise Line acquired the ship in 1999. Shortly after, in 2002, Seabourn wished to concentrate on smaller vessels. So, in 2002, they transferred the ship to Holland America Line, where she was renamed the Prinsendam.
Fincantieri S.p.A. is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013 and 50% of STX France in 2018, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world. The company builds both commercial and military vessels.
Arctic Sunrise is an ice-strengthened vessel operated by Greenpeace. The vessel was built in 1975 and has a gross tonnage of 949, a length of 50.5 metres (166 ft) and a maximum speed of 13 knots. She is classified by Det Norske Veritas as a "1A1 icebreaker".
MV Esperanza is a ship operated by Greenpeace. Previous to being a Greenpeace ship it was a fire-fighter owned by the Soviet Navy, built in 1984. It was recommissioned in 2000 and launched in 2002 after being named Esperanza by visitors to the Greenpeace website. It had undergone a major refit by Greenpeace to make it more environmentally friendly. A new helicopter deck and boat cranes were also added.
The geology of Antarctica covers the geological development of the continent through the Proterozoic Eon, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.
The Yellow Thing is a double-hulled floating vessel, used by Greenpeace to sample marine debris. As of 2006, its primary mission is to be used as a trawl for plastic samples in areas such as the Mediterranean Sea and the North Pacific Gyre. It is not self-powered, rather it is towed via a ship-attached boom. It is also considered to be relatively stable as a marine vehicle.
Gondwana was a supercontinent also known as Gondwanaland.
The 8,145-ton vessel MV Nisshin Maru (日新丸) is the primary vessel of the Japanese whaling fleet and is the world's only whaler factory ship. It is also the largest member, and flagship of the five-member whaling fleet, headed by research leader Shigetoshi Nishiwaki. The ship is based in Japan in Shimonoseki harbor, and is owned by Tokyo-based company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd which is a subsidiary of the Institute of Cetacean Research.
The MV Sirius is a Greenpeace ship named after the star Sirius. The Sirius was built with modern specifications at the Boele shipyard in the Netherlands in 1950 as one of 7 pilot vessels. The ship, originally owned by the Royal Dutch Navy, was sold to Greenpeace during 1981 while in dry dock. The ship was refitted, repaired, and repainted. It took ten weeks to paint her. The ship's colour scheme was soon changed to a green hull and rainbow colours and a white dove of peace with an olive branch was painted on the bow. Sirius was refitted with more modern navigation systems, communication equipment, lifeboats, and rafts. The pantries were turned into outdoor engine rooms and the mess room became a storage room.
The MV Greenpeace was a Greenpeace ship built in 1959 as an oceangoing tug/salvage vessel. She was purchased by Greenpeace in 1985 from the Maryland Pilotage Company, the vessel then being named MV Maryland, and transferred back to the Netherlands to be refitted with modern equipment before being recommissioned. She took over from the first Rainbow Warrior, which had been sunk in 1985 by French commandos. In 2001 she was replaced by the MV Esperanza.
Rainbow Warrior was a Greenpeace ship active in supporting a number of anti-whaling, anti-seal hunting, anti-nuclear testing and anti-nuclear waste dumping campaigns during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The ship was bombed in the Port of Auckland in New Zealand by operatives of the French intelligence service (DGSE) on 10 July 1985, sinking the ship and killing photographer Fernando Pereira.
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,200,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Gondwana, , was a supercontinent that existed from the Neoproterozoic until the Jurassic.
MV Ushuaia is a cruise ship operated by Argentina's Antarpply Expeditions, based in the city of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) on the Beagle Channel near the southern tip of South America. She was built for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She served the NOAA for twenty years under the names Researcher and "Malcolm Baldrige".
The MV Solo was a Greenpeace ship from 1990 to 1995, originally built in 1977 as an ocean tug called the Smit Houston. Greenpeace updated the ship with a helipad as well as veterinary and laboratory facilities. In 1995 she was chartered by a company working with the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management for use as a salvage vessel. At this time the ship was renamed as the ETV Waker. On 7 September 2009, a fire starting in the engine room so seriously damaged the vessel that she was scrapped.
Rainbow Warrior is a purpose-built motor-assisted sailing yacht owned and operated by Greenpeace and intended for use in their activities such as environmental protests and scientific excursions. She was christened on October 14, 2011, and has replaced Rainbow Warrior II after further upgrades and maintenance of the older ship had been shown to be impractical.
MV Antarctic Dream is a Chilean Antarctic expedition cruise ship, which originally served as the Chilean Navy auxiliary Piloto Pardo from 1959 until 1997.
