Right now, a science expedition to Antarctica is trapped in ice, waiting to be freed so they can continue exploring. They're just the latest group of humans to venture into the unpredictable, frozen world of the South Pole and beyond. Here are some of the most incredible and awe-inspiring images from over a century of icy exploration.
Gilbert Kerr, a member of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition plays the bagpipe for an indifferent penguin during the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-1904
(via Wikimedia Commons)
Grotto in an iceberg, photo taken during the British Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1913, on 5 Januay 1911, by Herbert Pointing
(via National Library NZ on The Commons)
A dreamy Venice in seal-land, taken during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition by Frank Hurley, between 1911 and 1914
(via State Library of New South Wales)
Wreck of the Gratitude on Macquarie Island, 1911
(via State Library of New South Wales)
Ice-crusted Adélie Penguins after a blizzard at Cape Dension, taken during the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, between 1911 and 1914
(via State Library of Victoria Collections and State Library of New South Wales)
Catch of the day: Whalers on South Georgia stand on the beach alongside their catch, 1912
(via The National Archives UK)
The "ice mask" of C. T. Madigan, taken during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition by Frank Hurley, between 1911 and 1914
(via State Library of New South Wales and National Library of Australia)
Herbert George Pointing and his telephoto apparatus, Antarctica, January 1912
(via National Library NZ on The Commons)
Playing football on ice, taken during Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917. Photo by Frank Hurley.
(via Slate)
Mawson and men at Christmas dinner with menu and balloons, on board the S.Y. Discovery in Antarctica, 1930
(via National Library of Australia)
Feeding polar bears from on top of a tank, Russia, c. 1950
(via ClassicPics)
Feeding polar bears with a tin of condensed milk, 1950s
(via EnglishRussia)
"The nearest phone booth is at the corner of Mitchell St. at Busselton road, Fremantle, WA, 2400 miles away" – Group Captain S.A. Campbell (centre) officially opening the first Australian Post Office to be set up in Antarctica on Heard Island, c. 1955
(via State Library of New South Wales)
Free hugs during The First Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1955, shortly before the USSR have built the Mirny station
(via English Russia)
A Tucker Sno-Cat balanced precariously over a crevice, during the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1955-1958
(Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
The southernmost Lenin statue of the world near a temporary Soviet base on The Southern Pole of Inaccessibility, the point on the Antarctic continent most distant from the Southern Ocean, 1958
(via South Pole Station)