| About the British Antarctic Territory |
The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes 20°W and 80°W, forming a wedge shape that extends to the South Pole. The Territory was formed on 3 March 1962, although the UK's claim to this portion of the Antarctic dates back to Letters Patent of 1908 and 1917. The area now covered by the Territory includes three regions which, before 1962, were administered by the British as separate dependencies of the Falkland Islands: Graham Land, the South Orkney Islands, and the South Shetland Islands.
The Territory overlaps the Antarctic claims of Argentina (Argentine Antarctica) and Chile (Antártica Chilena Province). It is inhabited by the staff of research and support stations operated and maintained by the British Antarctic Survey and other organisations, and stations of Argentina, Chile and other countries. There are no native inhabitants. |
| For more information see British Antarctic Survey. |
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| Flag description |
The flag for use on land is a white ensign (without cross) with the arms of the territory, quite large, in the fly. The flag is for flying at British Antarctic bases (which previously flew the British flag) and at the British Antarctic Survey headquarters in Cambridge, England.
The Coat of Arms of the British Antarctic Territory were first granted in 1952, when the territory was still a dependancy of the Falkland Islands (along with South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).
The arms consist of a shield bearing a flamming torch on a wavy background representing the sea. The dexter supporter is a golden lion, representing the United Kingdom. The sinister supporter is an Emperor penguin, representing the native wildlife in the territory.
The lion stands on a grass floor, while the penguin stands on an ice floor. The crest is a representation of the RRS Discovery, the research ship used by Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first journey to the Antarctic. The motto is Research and Discovery, reflecting the aims of the British Antarctic Survey. |
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| History |
The United Kingdom has had a continuous presence in the far South Atlantic since 1833 when it reasserted sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
In 1908, the UK unilaterally extended its territory by declaring sovereignty over "South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, and the Sandwich Islands, and the territory known as Graham's Land, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean to the south of the 50th parallel of south latitude, and lying between the 20th and the 80th degrees of west longitude". All these territories were to be administered as Falkland Islands Dependencies from Stanley by the Governor of the Falkland Islands.
In 1917, the wording of the claim was modified, so as to, inter alia, unambiguously include all the territory in the sector stretching to the South Pole (thus encompassing all of the present-day British Antarctic Territory).
The new claim covered "all islands and territories whatsoever between the 20th degree of west longitude and the 50th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 50th parallel of south latitude; and all islands and territories whatsoever between the 50th degree of west longitude and the 80th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 58th parallel of south latitude".
In 1943, at the height of World War II, the UK undertook a military operation known as Operation Tabarin, to provide reconnaissance and meteorological information in the South Atlantic Ocean.
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This "secret" wartime project became the civilian Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey and later the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). BAS is responsible for most of the United Kingdom's scientific research in Antarctica.
Several other nations began to stake claims to Antarctica, and in the 1950s the Antarctic Treaty was negotiated to demilitarise the region and retain Antarctica – defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude – for peaceful research purposes. The treaty was passed in 1961.
In response the UK hived off all its territory below 60°S (previously administered as part of the Falkland Island Dependencies) into the British Antarctic Territory, established by Order-in-Council.
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| The Antarctic Treaty |
The Antarctic Treaty, signed by all relevant regional claimants, does not in itself either recognise or dispute any territorial claims, leaving this matter to individual signatories. Most of the world's countries do not recognise any national claims to Antarctica. Britain, France, Norway, New Zealand and Australia, all of whom have territorial claims on the continent, mutually recognise each other's claims.
Argentina and Chile dispute the British claim, and make their own counter-claims that overlap both Britain's and each other's. |
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| Geography |
The British Antarctic Territory includes the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands and numerous other offshore islands, the Ronne Ice Shelf (Weddell Sea), parts of Coats Land, and a triangle of central continental Antarctica converging on the South Pole.
Over 99 percent of the territory's land surface is covered by a permanent ice sheet, up to 5 kilometres thick.] The highest peak is Mount Jackson, on the Antarctic Peninsula, at 10,446 feet (3,184 m). |
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| Climate |
Antarctica is the coldest and windiest of the continents. It is also one of the driest, despite being covered in ice sheets up to 4 km thick.
The climate of the continent is determined by a number of factors, including its geographical location, its high elevation and the belt of sea ice that surrounds it during winter. To the north of Antarctica lies a belt of strong westerly winds.
Vigorous weather systems develop in this region. Some of these move southwards, bringing strong winds and heavy snowfall to coastal regions of Antarctica.
Few of these weather systems penetrate far into the high interior of the continent and the snowfall falls off rapidly inland from the coast.
Much of the high interior receives less than 50 mm water equivalent of snowfall per year and is thus technically a desert.
However, with temperatures remaining well below freezing all year round, even this meagre snowfall has accumulated into 4 km thick ice sheets over hundreds of thousands of years.
During the Antarctic winter, air in contact with the ice sheets cools rapidly and, being denser than the overlying air, flows outward fom the high interior of the continent towards the coast. The Earth"s rotation deflects this flow to the left, resulting in a phenomenon known as a katabatic wind.
The climate of much of Antarctica is characterised by highly persistent katabatic winds. |
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British Antarctic Territory - Click to enlarge |
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| Where these winds encounter the steep slopes around the coasts of Antarctica, they can accelerate to great force. At Cape Denison, on the Adélie Land coast, Sir Douglas Mawson"s 1912-13 expedition recorded a world record annual mean wind speed of 19.4 metres per second and experienced gale-force winds on all but one of 203 consecutive winter days. |
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| Research Stations |
| The British Antarctic Survey has two permanently staffed research stations in the Territory: |
| Halley |
Halley Research Station, run by the British Antarctic Survey, is located on the Brunt Ice Shelf floating on the Weddell Sea in Antarctica is a British research facility dedicated to the study of the Earth's atmosphere. Measurements from Halley led to the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985.
There have been five Halley bases built so far. The first four were all buried by snow accumulation and crushed until they were uninhabitable. Various construction methods were tried, from unprotected wooden huts to steel tunnels. Halley V has the main buildings built on steel platforms that are raised annually to keep them above the snow surface. |
| Rothera |
Rothera research station is a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base on the Antarctic Peninsula, located at, Rothera Point, Adelaide Island.
Rothera Station is the BAS logistics centre for the Antarctic and home to well-equipped biological laboratories and facilities for a wide range of research. The station is situated on a rock and raised beach promontory at the southern extremity of Wormald Ice Piedmont, south-eastern Adelaide Island. The station has a 900 m (2,950 ft) crushed rock runway, with an associated hangar and bulk fuel storage facility, and a wharf for the discharge of cargo from supply ships. There is a transitory summer population of scientists and support staff who reach Rothera either by ship or through use of an intercontinental Dash-7 aircraft flying from the Falkland Islands.
Signy was operated from 1947 until 1996 and now is only staffed in the summer. There are also two summer-only forward operating stations, at Fossil Bluff and Sky Blu.
Faraday was maintained until 1996, when it was sold to Ukraine and renamed Akademik Vernadsky Station.
Since 1996, the historic base at Port Lockroy on Goudier Island has been staffed by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust during the Antarctic summer. Receiving about 10,000 visitors a year, it is one of the most visited sites on the continent. Visitors can tour the museum, buy souvenirs, post mail, and view the large gentoo penguin colony.
Argentine presence in the territory dates to the foundation of the Orcadas Base, South Orkney Islands, in 1903.
A number of other nations maintain bases in the territory, many in the South Shetland Islands. |
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