77°00′S150°00′E / 77.000°S 150.000°E /-77.000; 150.000
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TheAntarctic Plateau,Polar Plateau orKingHaakon VII Plateau is a large area ofEast Antarctica that extends over a diameter of about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi), and includes the region of the geographicSouth Pole and theAmundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This huge continentalplateau is at an average elevation of about 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).[citation needed]
This plateau was first sighted in 1903 during the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic, which was led byRobert Falcon Scott.Ernest Shackleton became the first to cross parts of this plateau in 1909 during his Nimrod Expedition, which turned back in bad weather when it had reached a point 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from theSouth Pole. Shackleton named this plateau theKing Edward VII Plateau in honour of theking of the United Kingdom. In December 1911, while returning from thefirst journey to the South Pole, the Norwegian explorerRoald Amundsen decided to name this plateau theKing Haakon VII Plateau in honour of the newly elected king of Norway.
The Antarctic Plateau was first observed and photographed from the air in 1929 by aFord Trimotor aeroplane carrying four men on the first flight to the South Pole and back to the seacoast. The chiefpilot of this flight wasBernt Balchen, a native ofNorway, and thenavigator and chief organizer of this expedition wasRichard E. Byrd ofVirginia, an officer in theU.S. Navy. The other two members of its crew were the co-pilot and the photographer.
The high elevations of the Antarctic Plateau, combined with its high latitudes and its extremely long, sunless winters, mean that the temperatures here are the lowest in the world in most years, falling as low as −92 °C (−134 °F).[1]
The nearly continuous frigid winds that blow across the Antarctic Plateau, especially in the austral winter, make the environment inhospitable to life.
Microbial abundance is low (<103 cells/ml ofsnowmelt). The microbial community is mainly composed of members of theAlphaproteobacteria class (e.g.Kiloniellaceae andRhodobacteraceae), which is one of the most well-represented bacterial groups in marine habitats;Bacteroidota (e.g.Cryomorphaceae andFlavobacteriaceae); andCyanobacteria. According to research, polar microorganisms should be considered as not only deposited airborne particles, but also as active components of thesnowpack ecology of the Antarctic Plateau.[2]
Nopenguins live on the Antarctic Plateau, and few birds routinely fly over it, except mostlyAntarctic petrels,snow petrels andsouth polar skuas. There are very fewland animals anywhere on the plateau, or the Antarctic in general;nematodes,springtails,mites,midges, humans and dogs.[citation needed]