Antarctic Plateau

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 the South Pole.

The Antarctic Plateau was first observed and photographed from the air in 1929 by a Ford Trimotor aeroplane carrying four men on the first flight to the South Pole and back to the seacoast.

[1] The nearly continuous frigid winds that blow across the Antarctic Plateau, especially in the austral winter, make the environment inhospitable to life.

The microbial community is mainly composed of members of the Alphaproteobacteria class (e.g. Kiloniellaceae and Rhodobacteraceae), which is one of the most well-represented bacterial groups in marine habitats; Bacteroidota (e.g. Cryomorphaceae and Flavobacteriaceae); and Cyanobacteria.

According to research, polar microorganisms should be considered as not only deposited airborne particles, but also as active components of the snowpack ecology of the Antarctic Plateau.