Chronology of Antarctic Exploration

Antarctica. Source: NASA/Blue Marble

Published: July 31, 2009, 9:02 pm

Updated: September 24, 2011, 9:26 am

Topics:

Environmental History (main)

See also Exploration of the Antarctic.

~350 BCE	Greeks invent Antarctica ("antarktikos" meaning "opposite the arctic") to "balance" known northern land masses.
150 CE	Ptolemy includes "Terra Australis" in his Geographica
1700	British Astronomer Edmund Halley captains expedition which crosses the convergence between the south Atlantic and the Southern Ocean to 52°24’S 35°W where Antarctic Tabular Ice Bergs where observed and were mistaken for islands.
February 1772	French expedition led by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec discovers Kerguelen Islands which becomes a base for sealers and whalers just north of the convergence in the south Indian Ocean.
November 1772-March 1775	British expedition led by James Cook circumnavigates the globe at high south latitudes and enters Antarctic Circle for the first time in January 17, 1773 . Farthest south record set at 71°10’S 106°54’W (approximately 90 miles north of the Antarctic coast).
February 1819	British trader William Smith discovers South Shetland Islands while sailing far south around Cape Horn.
December 25, 1819	First seal hunters arrive in South Shetlands.
January 1820	Edward Bransfield and William Smith chart South Shetlands.
January 27, 1820	Russian expedition led by Thaddeus von Bellinghausen makes first sighting of Antarctic mainland as part of second circumnavigation of the globe at high southern latitudes (December 1819-February 1821).
January 30, 1820	Bransfield and Smith sight Antarctic Peninsula south of South Shetlands.
November 1820	Nathaniel Palmer sights Antarctic Peninsula south of South Shetlands.
January 21, 1820	Bellinghausen expedition discovers Peter I Island.
January 28, 1820	Bellinghausen expedition discovers Alexander Coast.
February 7, 1821	American John Davis puts men ashore at Hughes Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula south of the South Shetlands for an hour to look for seals - first landing on continent goes unnoticed for 130 years.
December 1821	British sealer George Powell discovers South Orkney Islands.
February 20, 1823	British James Weddell sailing south into Weddell Sea in very mild summer looking for seals, establishes Farthest South record at 74° 15' S, 34° 16' W.
December 1824	Enderby sealer Sprightly charts the north coast of the Antarctic Peninsula (Trinity Peninsula).
November 1830 - April 1832	British sealer John Biscoe complete third circumnavigation of globe at high southern latitudes, dicovering Enderby Land (charting 47°20'E to Cape Ann at 51°37'E in February 1831) and exploring western coast of Antarctic Peninsula (February 1832).
December 1833	British sealer Peter Kemp sights land (58°E) east of Cape Ann now known as Kemp Coast.
January 1838	French expedition led by Jules Dumont d'Urville tries to follow Weddell's course south but is stopped by pack ice north of the Antarctic Circle.
January - March 1839	John Bellany discovers Bellany Islands and sights Antarctic coast at approximately 119°E (Sabrina Coast).
March 1839	The Flying Fish of the United States Exploring Expedition comes close to the Farthest South of James Cook (70°S 101°16’W).
January 19, 1840	Expedition of Jules Durmont d'Urville sights Antarctic coast at approximately 136°E (Adélie Coast).
December 1839 - March 1840	United States Exploring Expedition tracks Antarctic Coast for 1,500 miles - Wilkes Land.
November 1840 - April 1841	British expedition of James Clark Ross breaks through pack ice to enter Ross Sea, dicovers Cape Adare, Admiralty Range, Ross Island, Mount Erebus, and charts the Great Ice Barrier for 300 miles. Establishes new farthest south record of 78°S.
November 1841 - February 1842	Ross Expedition charts more of the Great Ice Barrier and establishes new farthest south record of 78°09'S.
December 1842 - April 1843	Ross Expedition explores Weddell Sea.
1844-5	British expedition led by Thomas Moore in the ship Pagoda conducts magnetic measurements in the Southern Ocean from 0° and 100° E (primarily south of the Indian Ocean) but does not chart any additional land.
1873-74	German whaler Gronland charts parts of the Antarctic Peninsula including Bismark Strait and Wilhelm Archipelago.
February 6, 1874	HMS Challenger, a British steamship, enters Antarctic Circle (a first for a steamship). Rocks dredged from the ocean floor suggest the presence of a continental land mass further south.
1892/3	Two whaling expeditions explore Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea in search of Right Wales. Dundee Whaling Expedition discovers Dundee Island. Anton Carl Larsen collects fossils.
1893/4	Second visit by Anton Carl Larsen discovers Larsen Ice Shelf (on which skis used for first time), Oscar II Coast Foyn Coast and various mountains.
January 19, 1895	Norwegian whaling expedition puts Hynrik Bull, Carsten Borchgrevink and four others ashore at Cape Adare. At the time, it was believed to be the first landing on Antarctica until 1952, when the 1821 landing by American sealers came to light.
July 1895	Sixth International Geographical Congress proclaims that:"exploration of the Antarctic Regions is the greatest piece of geographical exploration still to be undertaken." The "Heroic Age" of Antarctic exploration begins.
1897 - 1899	Belgica Antarctic Expedition becomes trapped in ice in the Bellinghausen Sea for thirteen months and takes continuous meteorological data for an entire Antarctic year.
1898 - 1900	Southern Cross Expedition overwinters at Cape Adare, charts the Victoria Land coast, lands on the Ross Ice Shelf and sets a new Farthest South record at 78°50'S, and establishes most accurate location of the South Magnetic Pole.
1901 - 03	Gauss Expedition (First German Antarctic Expedition) explore region of coast and inland at 89°E.
1901 - 04	Discovery Expedition - based on Ross Island at western end of Ross Ice Shelf. December 30, 1902 Scott, Shackleton and Wilson set Farthest South at 82°17'S on the Ross Ice Shelf (the "Great Ice Barrier").
1901 - 04	Swedish Antarctic Expedition explorers northwest coast of Antarctic Peninsula. Unplanned overwintering caused by inability of ship to pick up expedition. Ship is crushed in ice and lost and three separate parties overwinter and are rescued in late 1903.
1903 - 04	Scotish National Antarctic Expedition discovers Coats Land on eastern side of the Weddell Sea and establishes first permanent weather station in Antarctic on South Orkney Islands which is given over to Argentina.
1904 - 05	Third French Antarctic Expedition explores west coast of Antarctic Peninsula.
1907 - 09	Nimrod Expedition - based on Ross Island at western end of Ross Ice Shelf. March 10, 1908 - five members of the expedition reach summit of Mount Erebus; January 9, 1909 - Earnest Shackleton and four others reach 88°23'S an new Farthest South just 111 statute miles from the South Pole; January 17, 1909 - Edgeworth David, Alistair Mackay, and Douglas Mawson reach south magnetic pole.
1908 - 10	Fourth French Antarctic Expedition returns to same region of Third French Antarctic Expedition and discovers Charcot Land and follows sea ice off coast west for 600 miles.
1910 - 12	Japanese Antarctic Expedition - explores Ross Ice Shelf south of the Bay of Whales and explores Edward VII Land.
1911 - 13	Second German Antarctic Expedition.
1910 - 12	Amundsen South Pole Expedition - based at the Bay of Whales on the eastern side of the Ross Ice Shelf. December 14-17, 1911, Amundsen, Bjaaland, Hanssen, Hassel and Wisting at South Pole.
1910 - 11	Terra Nova Expedition - based on Ross Island at western end of Ross Ice Shelf. January 17-18, 1912 Scott, Henry Robertson Bowers, Evans, Oates, and Wilson reach South Pole; February-March, 1912 on return journey.
1911 - 14	Australasian Antarctic expedition.
1914 - 16	Shackleton's failed Imperial Transantarctic Expedition (Endurance Expedition).
1928	November 16, Hurbert Wilkinsand Carl Ben Eielson make first aircraft flight over Antarctica; December 20, Wilkins and Eielson make extended flight over the Antarctic Pensinsula.
1929	January 15,Richard Byrd, Bernt Balchen andHarold June fly east from Bay of Whales, discoverRockefeller Mountains; November 29Byrd, Balchen, June, and Ashley McKinley fly overSouth Pole andphotograph about 150,000 square miles of Antarctica; Wilkins conducts flights over Charcot Land; Douglas Mawson and Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen begin expeditionsalong coast of Antarctica].
1930	January 14, Mawson and Risser-Larsenmet off of Cape Ann (51oE) - 45oE becomes demarcation between British/Australian/New Zealand area (45oE - 160oE) and Norwegian area (10oE-45oE).
1930s	Whaling ships begin using aircraft to spot whales and contibute to exploration of Antarctic Coast.
1933 - 5	Second Byrd Expedition conducts extensive aerial exploration of Ross Ice Shelf, King Edward VII. Land and Marie Byrd Land.
1934 - 7	British Graham Land Expedition.
November 23 - December 5, 1935	Lincoln Ellsworth and Herbert Hollick-Kenyon fly from Dundee Island off the nothern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula to Bay ofWhales on the Ross Ice Shelf- discovering Ellsworth Mountains and Ellsworth Land.
1939 - 40	Third Byrd Expedition - United StatesAntarctic Service Expedition.
1946 – 47	Fourth Byrd Expedition - Operation High Jump.
1947 - 8	Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition - operating in Weddell Sea, explores Ronne Ice shelf.
1949 - 52	Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition.
1955 – 56	Fifth Byrd Expedition - Operation Deep Freeze. October 32, 1956 - George Dufek lands aircraft at South Pole to establish permanentAmundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
1957 - 8	International Geophysical Year leads to establishment on numerous temporary and permanent Antarctic research stations by many nations.
1959	Antarctic Treaty System signed commiting signers topeaceful scientific activity and limiting military activity to support of peaceful endeavors such as science.

Citation

Saundry, P. (2011). Chronology of Antarctic Exploration. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Chronology_of_Antarctic_Exploration