And each Antarctic summer, thousands of tourists hit the beaches to mingle with the penguins and soak in the continent's bleak beauty.
"The Explorer, when it went down, left passengers out in the open ocean for four to five hours, in open lifeboats. And if the weather had been bad, it would have been a catastrophe," said Evan Bloom, deputy director of ocean and polar affairs at the State Department and head of the U.S. delegation.
The U.S. will press treaty signatories to endorse efforts by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization to enact stronger lifeboat standards for Antarctic waters, providing better protection for passengers. The conference will also address proposed upgrades for the older ships that operate in the Antarctic and the need for improved search-and-rescue capacity in the region.
To protect the coast from damage from the tens of thousands of tourists who visit each year, the U.S. is proposing limits on the number of people cruise ships can put ashore. The plan would prohibit ships carrying more than 500 passengers from letting them disembark. From smaller vessels, no more than 100 passengers could go ashore at a time, one ship at a time, with one guide for every 20 passengers.
The U.S. delegation also hopes to win support for a proposal to extend the zone of the Antarctic Treaty's jurisdiction over marine pollution from its present limit, at the 60th parallel, north to the "convergence zone," where cold Antarctic waters meet warmer northern currents.
"The [Antarctic] ecosystem extends at least to that convergence zone," Bloom said, and it is affected by ocean dumping and discharges from shipping. The proposal would have to be approved by the International Maritime Organization.
Concerns about the future of Antarctica began after World War II, as nations jockeyed for strategic advantage. Seven countries - Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom - had made overlapping territorial claims to all but 15 percent of the land.
Twelve countries met in Washington in 1959 and signed the Antarctic Treaty, preserving all the land and ice shelves south of the 60th parallel for peaceful uses. No national claims to Antarctic territory can be acted on as long as the treaty is in force.
To manage the treaty, the signatories - now numbering 47 countries - meet annually to seek solutions to problems that arise. There are also observers from nongovernmental organizations.
In addition to tourism and environmental protection, the treaty system regulates the operations of research stations, and encourages and oversees scientific research proposals.
"The United States has a huge, historic interest in the Antarctic Treaty and was a leader in bringing it about," Bloom said.
"The treaty made it possible to have 50 years of peace and science" on the continent, he said. "It is one of the most successful diplomatic treaties in history."
