Irina Sokratova

This paper systematizes data on the discovery of the so-called Antarctic oases, or places in the Antarctic that are free of ice. Several dozen such locales are currently known, but because of their often small areas and of the simultaneous and often uncoordinated work by various expeditions from different countries, confusion still remains with regard to their naming and classification. The finding of such «oases» began in the process of the initial exploration of the southern continent with the influence of the commercial interests of the countries involved. More oases were discovered with the help of military technologies that arrived in the Antarctic by the late 1930s -1940s and in the course of the systematic aerial photographic and cartographic work initiated during the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958).