Journey to the end of the Earth by Tishani Doshi

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                                                             Journey to the end of the Earth

 (1) What is Phytoplankton?

Phytoplankton is grass of the sea that nourish and sustain the entire Southern Ocean’s food chain.

(2) How were the Himalayas formed according to the author?

Million years ago India pushed northwards, jamming against Asia to buckle its crust and formed the Himalayas.

(3) What does the author compare stretching and running of Crab eater seals to?

The author compares stretching and running of Crab eater seals to stray dogs resting under the banyan tree.

(4) Why is Phytoplankton necessary for the survival of bio-diversity in Antarctica?

These single-celled plants use the sun’s energy to assimilate carbon and synthesise organic compounds in that wondrous and most important of processes called photosynthesis. Scientists warn that a further depletion in the ozone layer will affect the activities of phytoplankton, which in turn will affect the lives of all the marine animals and birds of the region, and the global carbon cycle.

(5) What was the author’s first reaction on reaching Antarctica and why?

Her first emotion on facing Antarctica’s expansive white landscape and uninterrupted blue horizon was relief, followed up with an immediate and profound wonder. Wonder at its immensity, its isolation, but mainly at how there could ever have been a time when India and Antarctica were part of the same landmass.

(6) Which programme was the author a part of on his expedition to Antarctica? Why was the programme successful?

 The author was the part of Students on Ice programme. It aims to do exactly this by taking high school students to the ends of the world and providing them with inspiring educational opportunities which will help them foster a new understanding and respect for our planet.

 The reason the programme has been so successful is because it’s impossible to go anywhere near the South Pole and not be affected by it.

(7) Why does the author think that Antarctica is the right place to study human race’s past, present and future?

Climate change is one of the most hotly contested environmental debates of our time. Will the West Antarctic ice sheet melt entirely? Will the Gulf Stream ocean current be disrupted? Will it be the end of the world as we know it? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, Antarctica is a crucial element in this debate — not just because it’s the only place in the world, which has never sustained a human population and therefore remains relatively ‘pristine’ in this respect; but more importantly, because it holds in its ice-cores half-million-year-old carbon records trapped in its layers of ice. If we want to study and examine the Earth’s past, present and future, Antarctica is the place to go.

(8) Describe the Antarctic atmosphere as experienced by the uthor.

 About 90 per cent of the Earth’s total ice volumes are stored in Antarctica. It is a chilling prospect (not just for circulatory and metabolic functions, but also for the imagination). It’s like walking into a giant ping-pong ball devoid of any human markers — no trees, billboards, buildings. You lose all earthly sense of perspective and time here. The visual scale ranges from the microscopic to the mighty: midges and mites to blue whales and icebergs as big as countries (the largest recorded was the size of Belgium). Days go on and on and on in surreal 24-hour austral summer light, and a ubiquitous silence, interrupted only by the occasional avalanche or calving ice sheet, consecrates the place. It’s an immersion that will force you to place yourself in the context of the earth’s geological history.

(9) “The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica”.  How is the study of this region useful to us?

Six hundred and fifty million years ago, a giant amalgamated southern supercontinent — Gondwana — did indeed exist, centred roughly around the present-day Antarctica. Things were quite different then: humans hadn’t arrived on the global scene, and the climate was much warmer, hosting a huge variety of flora and fauna. For 500 million years Gondwana thrived, but around the time when the dinosaurs were wiped out and the age of the mammals got under way, the landmass was forced to separate into countries, shaping the globe much as we know it today. It holds in its ice-cores half-million-year-old carbon records trapped in its layers of ice. If we want to study and examine the Earth’s past, present and future, Antarctica is the place to go. It’s the only place in the world, which has never sustained a human population and therefore remains relatively ‘pristine’ in this respect.

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