Earth’s Cryosphere, 2009, Vol. XIII, No. 1, p. 3-16

THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS OF THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE ANTARCTIC OASES

I.N. Sokratova

Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 199397, St. Petersburg, Bering str., 38, Russia, sokratova@aari.nw.ru

Attempts to provide a scientific explanation to the sharp differences in the environmental conditions of the Antarctic oases from the surrounding polar deserts appeared immediately after their discoveries at the beginning of 20th century. However, more than 100 years of their study and collecting of considerable amount of data did not provide a commonly accepted theory describing the origin and preservation of oases. The ideas on the age of these territories and especially the answers to the question whether the territories were covered by the ice sheet during the last glaciations are also contradictory. A theory of the origin and of the existence of the Antarctic oases is required for developing reference marks to bind the current data rows of climate, geological and other conditions, to the conditions responsible for the formation and preservation of the Antarctic oases. This is also required for incorporation of the Antarctic oases’ conditions into climate models and models on the ice sheet dynamics. The Antarctic oases, as the boundary conditions of glaciations, are not included into the present models, even conceptual ones. Absence of a solution to the problem of origin and preservation of the Antarctic oases is related to the lack of statement of such problem in most of the presently-running scientific programs rather than to the absence of required data or methods for finding such solution.

Key words: Antarctic oases, history of investigation, hypothesis of origin, conditions of glaciation.

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