Where are we? (map of Antarctica)

It just occurred to me that while you have been reading our blog, you probably have no idea of where exactly we are. This map shows some of the main US stations (McMurdo, South Pole and Palmer ), the Italian Mario Zucchelli Station and the Russian station (Vostok ).










We are actually on an island (Ross Island in the Ross Sea) which is surrounded by ice for most of the year. Every year an icebreaker ship is contracted to cut a channel (Krasin channel on the image) from the ice edge to our town. The oil tanker and the cargo vessel that were mentioned in our entry called " Vessel offload" travel through the channel to reach McMurdo. C-16 and B-15J are some of the enormous icebergs that are floating around and which have caused our bay to remain full of us and has made it harder for penguins to reach their food source in open water.







This image is also interesting because it shows Antarctica in relation to other countries and the claims some countries make. The Antarctic treaty says (amongst other things) that Antarctica is owned by nobody, but should this treaty ever be dissolved, lots of countries will want their pick of the pie.