Land of Wondrous Cold : : The Race to Discover Antarctica and Unlock the Secrets of Its Ice / / Gillen D’Arcy Wood.

A history of the first race to Antarctica that weaves the great polar discoveries of the nineteenth century with scientific breakthroughs of the modern eraAntarctica, the ice kingdom hosting the South Pole, looms large in the human imagination. The secrets of this vast frozen desert have long tempte...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2020 English
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Place / Publishing House:Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]
©2020
Year of Publication:2020
Language:English
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (312 p.) :; 24 b/w illus. 12 maps.
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Other title:Frontmatter --
CONTENTS --
List of Illustrations --
Timeline --
A Note on Measurements --
Introduction. Our Glacial Earth --
PART ONE. BEGINNINGS --
Chapter 1. The Race Is Joined --
Interlude: The Hollow Earth --
Chapter 2. Joseph Hooker Travels through Time --
Interlude: The Ghost Continent --
Chapter 3. In the Land of Fire --
Interlude: The American Climate Warriors --
PART TWO. TRIALS --
Chapter 4. D’Urville Battles the Pack --
Interlude: Ice Station Weddell --
Chapter 5. The Voyage of the Flying Fish --
Interlude: The Stormy Petrel --
Chapter 6. Madame D’Urville’s Letter --
Chapter 7. Ross Falls Behind --
PART THREE. TRIUMPH --
Chapter 8. Seas of Grass --
Interlude: The Antarctic Convergence --
Chapter 9. How the Adélie Penguin Got Its Name --
Interlude: Anthropornis nordenskjoldi --
Chapter 10. Wilkes Discovers a Continent --
Interlude: The Hurricane Coast --
Chapter 11. Message in a Bottle --
Interlude: The Magnetic Crusaders --
Chapter 12. Ross in Wonderland --
Chapter 13. Homecoming --
Postlude. Last Ice --
Acknowledgments --
Bibliography --
Index
Summary:A history of the first race to Antarctica that weaves the great polar discoveries of the nineteenth century with scientific breakthroughs of the modern eraAntarctica, the ice kingdom hosting the South Pole, looms large in the human imagination. The secrets of this vast frozen desert have long tempted explorers, but its brutal climate and glacial shores notoriously resist human intrusion. Land of Wondrous Cold tells a gripping story of the pioneer nineteenth-century voyages, when British, French, and American commanders raced to penetrate Antarctica’s glacial rim for unknown lands beyond. These intrepid Victorian explorers—James Ross, Dumont D’Urville, and Charles Wilkes—laid the foundation for our current understanding of Terra Australis Incognita.Today, the white continent poses new challenges, as scientists race to uncover Earth’s climate history recorded in the south polar ice and ocean floor, and to monitor the increasing instability of the Antarctic ice cap, which threatens inundation of coastal cities worldwide. Interweaving the breakthrough research of the modern Ocean Drilling Program with the dramatic discovery tales of their Victorian-era forerunners, Gillen D’Arcy Wood describes Antarctica’s role in a planetary drama of plate tectonics, climate change, and species evolution stretching back more than thirty million years. An original, multifaceted portrait of the polar continent emerges, illuminating our profound connection to Antarctica in its past, present, and future incarnations.A deep-time history of monumental scale, Land of Wondrous Cold brings the remotest of worlds within close reach—an Antarctica vital to both planetary history and human fortunes.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780691201689
9783110704716
9783110704518
9783110704730
9783110704525
9783110690088
DOI:10.1515/9780691201689?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Gillen D’Arcy Wood.