What Time Is It In Antarctica?

This has been a week for Antarctic serendipity...

First, I have been listening to the BBC Radio 4 podcast of the In Our Time discussion of the history of Antarctica:

Antarctica was first named in the second century AD by the geographer Marinus of Tyre, who was one of many early geographers to speculate about the existence of a huge southern landmass to balance the known lands of northern Europe. But it wasn't until the nineteenth century that modern man laid eyes on the continent.

Coincidentally, Michael5000 revisted his Forgotten Land of the Republic of Northern Antarctica.

[Previously highlighted on Cartophilia, with map by yours truly.]

Then, frequent Cartophilia contributor Rudolf Graspointner posted this map on the Cartophilia Facebook page:



From the National Geographic Magazine blog:

Of the unusual phenomena that occur at the polar extremes of the Earth, time is a particularly peculiar one. Yes, the sky at the South Pole splits the year between whole days of light and dark. But how do humans who venture there—to a place where the world’s 24 time zones converge—and to the rest of Antarctica set their clocks?

Which of course begs the question... Which time zone does Santa Claus use at his North Pole Christmas town?