Polar Plateau (redirected from Antarctic Plateau)

Polar Plateau 

the level surface of the ice sheet at the center of which the south pole is located. Elevation varies between 2,500 and 3,000 m. The thickness of the ice sheet ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 m. The average annual temperature is approximately – 50° C. In January 1909 members of the British expedition of E. Shackleton became the first people to reach the Polar Plateau. In late 1911 and early 1912 the Norwegian expedition of R. Amundsen and the British expedition of R. Scott reached the central part of the Polar Plateau. The American Amundsen-Scott scientific station began operating at the south pole in January 1957.