Antarctica Blog

Nobody owns it.
That is the whole point.

Antarctica is the only continent governed by an international treaty rather than by states. Everything about visiting, working or researching there follows from that, and almost nothing written for tourists explains it.

Seven countries claim territory in Antarctica and the Treaty freezes every one of those claims. The continent is reserved for peace and science, mining is banned by protocol, and the rules for anyone setting foot there come from the Treaty system and the national programmes rather than from any government you can phone. Understand that first and the trip, the cost and the restrictions all make sense.

The reading list

Link-out only. National programmes, treaty bodies and science institutions.

The treaty that governs it

Read these before anything written by a company selling a berth.

  1. The Antarctic Treaty

    Antarctic Treaty Secretariat · Primary document

    The 1959 treaty itself. Short, readable, and it does something almost nothing else in international law does: it suspends sovereignty claims rather than resolving them.

  2. The Environmental Protocol

    Antarctic Treaty Secretariat · Primary document

    The Madrid Protocol, which designates Antarctica a natural reserve devoted to peace and science and prohibits mineral resource activity. This is the instrument that keeps the continent as it is.

  3. Antarctic Treaty Secretariat

    Treaty body · Primary

    Meeting records, measures and the current state of the system. The authority when a travel site and a forum disagree.

Who is actually there

The permanent population is scientists and the people who keep them alive.

  1. British Antarctic Survey

    National programme · Institution

    One of the best science communicators of any polar programme. Station life, current research and a great deal of free material.

  2. United States Antarctic Program

    National programme · Institution

    How the US actually operates on the ice, including the logistics of getting people there. Unusually candid about conditions.

  3. COMNAP

    Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs · Institution

    The body where the national programmes coordinate. Station lists, logistics and the practical reality of operating a continent with no infrastructure.

  4. SCAR

    Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research · Institution

    The scientific body that advises the Treaty system. Where the research agenda is actually set.

Visiting, and what it costs the place

Tourism to Antarctica is self-regulated by the operators. That is worth knowing before you read their guidance.

  1. IAATO

    International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators · Industry body

    The body that sets visitor guidelines and publishes visitor numbers. It is an association of the companies selling the trips, so read it as industry self-regulation rather than as a regulator, but its site-by-site rules are the operative ones ashore.

  2. National Snow and Ice Data Center

    NSIDC · Science

    Sea ice extent and ice sheet data, updated continuously and free. The place to check what is actually happening rather than what a headline says.

  3. Antarctica

    Wikipedia · Reference

    Geography, exploration history and the claim map in one place, properly sourced.