The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The term Antarctic, referring to the opposite of the Arctic Circle, was coined by Marinus of Tyre in the 2nd century AD.
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his name to several seaweeds, plants and shrubs, and places such as d'Urville Island in New Zealand.
Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic field is generated by electric currents due to the motion of convection currents of a mixture of molten iron and nickel in Earth's outer core: these convection currents are caused by heat escaping from the core, a natural process called a geodynamo.
Adélie Land or Adélie Coast is a 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. France has administered it as one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands since 1955 and applied the Antarctic Treaty System rules since 1961. Article 4 of the Antarctic Treaty deals with territorial claims, and although it does not renounce or diminish any preexisting claims to sovereignty, it also does not prejudice the position of contracting parties in their recognition or non-recognition of territorial sovereignty. France has had a permanent station in Adélie Land since 9 April 1950.
Polar drift is a geological phenomenon caused by variations in the flow of molten iron in Earth's outer core, resulting in changes in the orientation of Earth's magnetic field, and hence the position of the magnetic north- and south poles.
The Dumont d'Urville Station is a French scientific station in Antarctica on Île des Pétrels, archipelago of Pointe-Géologie in Adélie Land. It is named after explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, whose expedition landed on Débarquement Rock in the Dumoulin Islands at the northeast end of the archipelago on January 21, 1840. It is operated by the "French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor", a joint operation of French public and para-public agencies. It is the administrative centre of Adélie Land.
The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica.
Astrolabe Glacier is a glacier 10 kilometres (10 km) wide and 19 kilometres (10 nmi) long, flowing north-northeast from the continental ice and terminating at the coast in a prominent tongue at the east side of Géologie Archipelago. It was first sighted in 1840 by the French expedition under Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville, although no glaciers were noted on d'Urville's chart of this coast but a formidable icy dike with perpendicular flanks of 37.7 m high according to the joined plate, corresponding to the glacier tongue. The glacier was photographed from the air by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump in January 1947. It was charted by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1949–51, and named after d'Urville's flagship, the Astrolabe.
South Pole or Southpole may refer to:
Astrolabe was originally a horse-transport barge converted into an exploration ship of the French Navy. Originally named Coquille, she is famous for her travels with Jules Dumont d'Urville. The name derives from an early navigational instrument, the astrolabe, a precursor to the sextant.
Débarquement Rock is an ice-free rock 200 metres (220 yd) long and 18.7 m high, marking the northern end of the Dumoulin Islands and the north-eastern end of the Géologie Archipelago.
Astrolabe Subglacial Basin is a subglacial basin to the south of the Adélie Coast and east of Porpoise Subglacial Highlands, trending north–south and containing the thickest ice — about 4,700 metres (15,400 ft) — measured in Antarctica. The basin was delineated by the SPRI-NSF-TUD airborne radio echo sounding program, 1967–79, and named after the Astrolabe, the flagship of the French Antarctic Expedition, 1837–40, under Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville.
Geomagnetic secular variation refers to changes in the Earth's magnetic field on time scales of about a year or more. These changes mostly reflect changes in the Earth's interior, while more rapid changes mostly originate in the ionosphere or magnetosphere.
Cape Jules is a rocky cape with a small cove along its northern end, 3 nautical miles (6 km) west of Zelee Glacier Tongue, Antarctica. It was discovered and named by the French expedition under Dumont d'Urville, 1837–40. Jules is the given name of the discoverer, Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville, as well as his son. The area was charted by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1912–13, and again by the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition in 1931, both under Mawson. The French Antarctic Expedition under Michel Barre established astronomical control at this locality in 1951.
The Géologie Archipelago, also known as the Pointe Géologie Archipelago, Geology Archipelago or Cape Geology Archipelago, is a small archipelago of rocky islands and rocks close to the north of Cape Géodésie and Astrolabe Glacier Tongue, extending from Helene Island on the west to the Dumoulin Islands on the east, in Adélie Land, Antarctica.
Rostand Island is a rocky island 400 m long and 200 m south-east of Petrel Island in the Géologie Archipelago of Antarctica. It was charted in 1951 by the French Antarctic Expedition and named by them for Jean Rostand, noted French biologist.
The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward. There is only one location where this occurs, near the geographic north pole. The geomagnetic north pole is the northern antipodal pole of an ideal dipole model of the Earth's magnetic field, which is the most closely fitting model of Earth's actual magnetic field.
The geomagnetic poles are antipodal points where the axis of a best-fitting dipole intersects the surface of Earth. This theoretical dipole is equivalent to a powerful bar magnet at the center of Earth, and comes closer than any other point dipole model to describing the magnetic field observed at Earth's surface. In contrast, the magnetic poles of the actual Earth are not antipodal; that is, the line on which they lie does not pass through Earth's center.
The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism is an autonomous research institution established by the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology. The facility is engaged in basic and applied research in geomagnetism, as well as allied areas of geophysics, atmospheric physics and space physics, as well as plasma physics. The institute currently operates 12 magnetic observatories and actively participates in the Indian Antarctic Program.
