This is a list of events occurring in Antarctica in 2012. Events 24 January: A fire forces the evacuation of the Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base with two people dying. 5 March: The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling organisation claims to have closed down Japan's main whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru, deep inside the Southern Ocean off the Antarctic coast. 20 September: Data from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign shows the Antarctic ice sheet reached its seventh-largest extent on September 12, at 16.14 million km2. 18 October: A fictional feature film, called South of Sanity, is shot in Antarctica for the first time. 26 November: Scientists have found life in an Antarctic Lake Vida that was sealed off from the outside world by a thick sheet of ice several thousands of years ago. 12 December: A British research team launches a long-awaited project to hunt for life in Lake Ellsworth hidden beneath the ice-sheet in Antarctica. References