ATLAS

Verified factsOMEGA-24-1-3Sheet 3 of 5 of the dossier Lands beyond the ice wall

Around and across the south: circumnavigations, flights and measurements

Documented journeys around and across Antarctica, and what flight routes and coastline length say about the flat-map argument.

A large iceberg floating in the ocean, seen through a ship's porthole.
An iceberg seen from a ship's porthole. Mood image. Lars Bugge Aarset · Pexels license · Pexels

Summary

If other continents lay beyond a wall of ice around the world, travellers going round the south would meet it. This sheet gathers the documented journeys that went round, across or past Antarctica. Bellingshausen and Lazarev sailed twice around the continent in 1819-1821 without losing sight of each other. From 1979 to 1982 the Transglobe Expedition, led by Ranulph Fiennes, travelled around the world through both poles using only surface transport, crossing Antarctica from the South Pole to Scott Base on the way. In 2016-2017 the Swiss Polar Institute's Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition sailed around the continent aboard the Akademik Tryoshnikov, with 159 researchers and 12 island groups visited.

The sheet also covers arguments drawn from flights and measurements. A 2025 video claimed that flights between New Zealand and Argentina route through the United States because the Earth is flat; Science Feedback rated this inaccurate, noting direct Sydney-Santiago flights and the distortion of the map used. Another viral claim stressed that Antarctica's edge, about 53,610 km, exceeds Earth's circumference; Science Feedback explains the coastline paradox. These sources document journeys and calculations, and none of them supports a wall or lands beyond it.

What the thesis says

The sources show where these claims circulate, not that they are true.

  1. Thesis

    A 2025 Facebook video claims that flights from New Zealand to Argentina connect through the United States, which would only make sense if the Earth were flat.

Verified facts

  1. Verified fact

    The Transglobe Expedition (1979-1982), led by Ranulph Fiennes, was the first to circle the Earth along a north-south line using only surface transport: it left Greenwich in September 1979 and reached the South Pole on 15 December 1980.

    • Transglobe Expedition, Wikipedia
      They began in Greenwich in the United Kingdom in September 1979 and travelled south, arriving at the South Pole on 15 December 1980.
  2. Verified fact

    The Transglobe team descended the Scott Glacier, crossed the Ross Ice Shelf and arrived at Scott Base on 11 January 1981, completing its crossing of Antarctica before heading for the North Pole, reached on 11 April 1982.

    • Transglobe Expedition, Wikipedia
      arrived at Scott Base on 11 January 1981, completing their Antarctic crossing
  3. Verified fact

    The Bellingshausen and Lazarev expedition of 1819-1821 managed to circumnavigate Antarctica twice without losing sight of its two ships.

  4. Verified fact

    From December 2016 to March 2017, scientific teams from all over the world boarded the Russian research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov for the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition organised by the Swiss Polar Institute.

  5. Verified fact

    The Swiss Polar Institute counts 159 researchers from 73 institutions on the circumnavigation expedition, and 12 island groups visited.

  6. Verified fact

    Science Feedback rated that claim inaccurate: the video relies on a map projection that distorts directions, and LATAM and Qantas both offer direct flights between Sydney and Santiago, Chile; fewer southern routes reflect demand, not a barrier.

  7. Verified fact

    Measured with 3.5 million points, Antarctica's icy edge is roughly 53,610 km long, longer than Earth's circumference of roughly 40,070 km; this results from the coastline paradox, not from a ring around the world.