Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent.

Situated almost
entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also
known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is
the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of
14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice
sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).
Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it
has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual
precipitation of over 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of
the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise
global sea levels by almost 60 metres (200 ft). Antarctica holds the record for the
lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). The coastal regions can
reach temperatures over 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer. Native species of animals include
mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation occurs, it is
mostly in the form of lichen or moss.
The ice shelves of Antarctica were probably first seen in 1820, during a Russian
expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The
decades that followed saw further exploration by French, American, and British
expeditions. The first confirmed landing was by a Norwegian team in 1895. In the
early 20th century, there were a few expeditions into the interior of the continent.
British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were the first to reach
the magnetic South Pole in 1909, and the geographic South Pole was first reached
in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.[4]
Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries, all of which are parties of the 1959
Antarctic Treaty System. According to the terms of the treaty, military activity, mining,
nuclear explosions, and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited in Antarctica.
Tourism, fishing and research are the main human activities in and around
Antarctica. During the summer months, about 5,000 people reside at research
stations, a figure that drops to around 1,000 in the winter. Despite the continent's
remoteness, human activity has a significant effect on it via pollution, ozone
depletion, and climate change. The melting of the potentially unstable West Antarctic
ice sheet causes the most uncertainty in century-scale projections of sea level rise,
and the same melting also affects the Southern Ocean overturning circulation, which
can eventually lead to significant impacts on the Southern Hemisphere climate and
Southern Ocean productivity.

Positioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic
Circle (one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the world),
Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean.[note 2] Rivers exist in Antarctica; the
longest is the Onyx. Antarctica covers more than 14.2 million km2 (5,500,000 sq mi),
almost double the area of Australia, making it the fifth-largest continent. Its coastline
is almost 18,000 km (11,200 mi) long:[1] as of 1983, of the four coastal types, 44% of
the coast is floating ice in the form of an ice shelf, 38% consists of ice walls that rest
on rock, 13% is ice streams or the edge of glaciers, and the remaining 5% is
exposed rock.[14]
The lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet occur mainly in the
McMurdo Dry Valleys or various oases.[15] Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia's
Vostok Station, is the largest subglacial lake globally and one of the largest lakes in
the world. It was once believed that the lake had been sealed off for millions of
years, but scientists now estimate its water is replaced by the slow melting and
freezing of ice caps every 13,000 years.[16] During the summer, the ice at the edges
of the lakes can melt, and liquid moats temporarily form. Antarctica has both saline
and freshwater lakes.[15]
Antarctica is divided into West Antarctica and East Antarctica by the Transantarctic
Mountains, which stretch from Victoria Land to the Ross Sea.[17][18] The vast majority
of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, which averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi) in
thickness.[19] The ice sheet extends to all but a few oases, which, with the exception
of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, are located in coastal areas.[20] Several Antarctic ice
streams flow to one of the many Antarctic ice shelves, a process described by ice-
sheet dynamics.

East Antarctica comprises Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac.
Robertson Land, Wilkes Land, and Victoria Land. All but a small portion of the region
lies within the Eastern Hemisphere. East Antarctica is largely covered by the East
Antarctic Ice Sheet.[22] There are numerous islands surrounding Antarctica, most of
which are volcanic and very young by geological standards.[23] The most prominent
exceptions to this are the islands of the Kerguelen Plateau, the earliest of which
formed around 40 Ma.[23][24]
Vinson Massif, in the Ellsworth Mountains, is the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892
m (16,050 ft).[25] Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active
volcano and erupts around 10 times each day. Ash from eruptions has been found
300 kilometres (190 mi) from the volcanic crater.[26] There is evidence of a large
number of volcanoes under the ice, which could pose a risk to the ice sheet if activity
levels were to rise.[27] The ice dome known as Dome Argus in East Antarctica is the
highest Antarctic ice feature, at 4,091 metres (13,422 ft). It is one of the world's coldest and
driest places—temperatures there may reach as low as −90 °C (−130 °F), and the annual
precipitation is 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in).

Antarctica's status is regulated by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and other related
agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctica is defined as
all land and ice shelves south of 60° S for the purposes of the Treaty System. [1] The
treaty was signed by twelve countries, including the Soviet Union, the United
Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and the United States. Since 1959, a further 42
countries have acceded to the treaty. Countries can participate in decision-making if
they can demonstrate that they do significant research on Antarctica; as of 2022, 29
countries have this 'consultative status'.[182] Decisions are based on consensus,
instead of a vote. The treaty set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and
established freedom of scientific investigation and environmental protection.[183][184]

Territorial claims

In 1539, the King of Spain, Charles V, created the Governorate of Terra Australis,
which encompassed lands south of the Strait of Magellan and thus theoretically
Antarctica, the existence of which was only hypothesized at the time,[185] granting this
Governorate to Pedro Sancho de la Hoz,[186][187] who in 1540 transferred the title to
the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia.[188] Spain claimed all the territories to the south
of the Strait of Magellan until the South Pole, with eastern and western borders to
these claims specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas and Zaragoza respectively. In
1555 the claim was incorporated to Chile.[189]
In the present, sovereignty over regions of Antarctica is claimed by seven countries.
[1]
While a few of these countries have mutually recognised each other's claims,[190]
the validity of the claims is not recognised universally.[1] New claims on Antarctica
have been suspended since 1959, although in 2015, Norway formally defined Queen
Maud Land as including the unclaimed area between it and the South Pole.[191]
The Argentine, British, and Chilean claims overlap and have caused friction. In 2012,
after the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office designated a previously unnamed
area Queen Elizabeth Land in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee,[192] the
Argentine government protested against the claim.[193] The UK passed some of the
areas it claimed to Australia and New Zealand after they achieved independence.
The claims by Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Norway do not overlap
and are recognised by each other.[190] Other member nations of the Antarctic Treaty
do not recognise any claim, yet have shown some form of territorial interest in the
past.

Dat Claimant Territory Claim limits Map

e

1840 France Adélie Originally undefined; later

Land specified to be 142°2′E to
136°11′E
1908 United British 80°0′W to 20°0′W
Kingdom Antarctic
Territory ● 80°0′W to
74°0′W claimed
by Chile (1940)
● 74°0′W to
53°0′W claimed
by Chile (1940)
and Argentina
(1943)
● 53°0′W to
25°0′W claimed
by Argentina
(1943)

1923 New Ross 160°0′E to 150°0′W

Zealand Dependency

1931 Norway Peter I 68°50′S 90°35′W

Island

1933 Australia Australian 44°38′E to 136°11′E, and

Antarctic 142°2′E to 160°00′E
Territory

1939 Norway Queen 20°00′W to 44°38′E

Maud Land
1940 Chile Chilean 90°0′W to 53°0′W
Antarctic
Territory ● 80°00′W to
74°00′W claimed
by the United
Kingdom (1908)
● 74°00′W to
53°00′W claimed
by the United
Kingdom (1908)
and Argentina
(1943)

1943 Argentina Argentine 74°0′W to 25°0′W

Antarctica
● 74°0′W to
53°0′W claimed
by the United
Kingdom (1908)
and Chile (1940)
● 53°0′W to
25°0′W claimed
by the United
Kingdom (1908)

– (Unclaimed Marie Byrd 150°0′W to 90°0′W

territory) Land
(except Peter I Island)
Cold facts
Antarctica is unique among the continents for being almost totally covered by glacier
ice. Although this ice cover in its entirety is often referred to as a single ice sheet (the
Antarctic Ice Sheet), there are in fact two major areas of ice which differ from each
other in both their physical characteristics and history: the East and West Antarctic
Ice Sheets. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is both larger and thicker than the West
Antarctic Ice Sheet, as well as being much older.

The continent itself is not centred over the South Pole, and instead, the greater
portion of Antarctica lies within the Eastern Hemisphere (as defined by the Prime
Meridian). The West Antarctic Ice Sheet occupies a smaller area of land within the
Western Hemisphere and is flanked by the Weddell Sea on one side and the Ross
Sea on the other. The Transantarctic Mountains extend across the continent forming
a convenient physical boundary to demarcate East Antarctica (or Greater Antarctica)
from West Antarctica (or Lesser Antarctica). Most of Antarctica is south of the
Antarctic Circle, with the exception of parts of the East Antarctic coastline and the
Antarctic Peninsula which extends northwards from West Antarctica to about 63°S.

Islands and ice shelves

In addition to the continental land mass, Antarctica has several large and small
islands; for example, the South Shetland Islands just north of the Antarctic
Peninsula. Some of Antarctica’s islands are permanently linked to the mainland by
ice, whereas others are connected only seasonally in step with the pattern of sea ice
expansion and retreat. Much of the continent’s coastline is fringed by ice shelves.
The largest of these are the Ross Ice Shelf in the Ross Sea and the Ronne Ice Shelf
in the Weddell Sea. Each of these ice shelves cover an area greater than the British
Isles.

The highest, coldest and driest continent

The Transantarctic range contains many peaks above 4000m; however, the highest
mountain in Antarctica, Mt Vinson, is part of the Ellsworth Mountains located in the
western area of the continent near the Antarctic Peninsula. Mt Vinson reaches
4892m above sea level – a little higher than Mont Blanc in the European Alps.

While Antarctica does have high mountains, it is not because of its mountains that it
has the distinction of being ‘the highest continent on Earth’: it is because of the
thickness of its ice sheets. Due to this ice cover, Antarctica has the highest average
surface elevation of all the continents at around 2000m above sea level (for
comparison, the highest peak in the British Isles, Ben Nevis in Scotland, is 1343m);
yet in many places the ice surface is much higher than this. In the region of the East
Antarctic Ice Sheet known as Dome A the surface elevation is over 4000m. The
height of the ice surface is of course the result of both the elevation of the underlying
bedrock and the thickness of the ice sheet; and both of these factors vary across the
continent for reasons that are discussed in Ice Sheets and Glaciation. In East
Antarctica, the ice sheet is thicker and rests on bedrock that is above sea level in
most places, whereas in the west the ice is not as thick and much of the underlying
bedrock is below sea level.

In addition to being the highest continent, Antarctica is also distinctive for being the
coldest and the driest. Its climatic characteristics are described and explained in Key
Factors Behind Antarctica’s Climate; although some background is needed here as
part of the introduction to the physical landscape. It comes as no surprise that
Antarctica is coldest given its geographical position; yet it may at first seem
surprising that it is also the driest. Despite being covered in snow and ice, mean
annual precipitation is very low, and the climate can be described as a polar desert.
Rather than being the result of high levels of snowfall, the vast Antarctic ice sheets
exist because the cold temperature year round prevents what little snow and frost
that accumulates from melting – hence the ice sheets have been able to build up
from small annual inputs of ice crystals over a very long period of time.

Very little of the continent and its islands are free of glacier ice (0.32%), and these
ice-free areas owe their existence to specific local-scale factors. For example, there
are high mountain peaks that protrude above the ice sheets, like islands in a sea of
ice, that are termed nunataks. High winds and steep slopes prevent snow and ice
from accumulating on parts of these mountains.

Dry Valleys
Dry Valleys are another intriguing type of landscape found in Antarctica. These are
found in high altitude areas of extreme aridity. Good examples can be found in the
Victoria Land region near the McMurdo research station.

Some low lying coastal areas of Antarctica, particularly along the Peninsula, have
micro-climate and topographic conditions which cause enough melting during the
austral summer to allow some land to remain free of glaciers.

For more information about Antarctica’s physical features.

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest of Earth's continents.[1] Near the coast, the
temperature can exceed 10 °C in summer and fall to below −40 °C in winter. Over the
elevated inland, it can rise to about −30 °C in summer but fall below −80 °C in winter.

The lowest natural air temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the
Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983.[69] A lower air temperature of −94.7 °C
(−138.5 °F) was recorded in 2010 by satellite—however, it may have been influenced by
ground temperatures and was not recorded at a height of 2 m (7 ft) above the surface as
required for official air temperature records.[70][71]
Antarctica is a polar desert with little precipitation; the continent receives an average
equivalent to about 150 mm (6 in) of water per year, mostly in the form of snow. The
interior is dryer and receives less than 50 mm (2 in) per year, whereas the coastal
regions typically receive more than 200 mm (8 in).[72] In a few blue-ice areas, the
wind and sublimation remove more snow than is accumulated by precipitation.[73] In
the dry valleys, the same effect occurs over a rock base, leading to a barren and
desiccated landscape.[74] Antarctica is colder than the Arctic region, as much of
Antarctica is over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, where air temperatures are
colder. The relative warmth of the Arctic Ocean is transferred through the Arctic sea
ice and moderates temperatures in the Arctic region.

The warming of Antarctica's territorial waters has caused the weakening or outright
collapse of ice shelves, which float just offshore of glaciers and stabilize them. Many
coastal glaciers have been losing mass and retreating, which causes net annual ice
loss across Antarctica,[83]: 1264 even as the East Antarctic ice sheet continues to gain
ice inland. By 2100, net ice loss from Antarctica alone is expected to add about 11
cm (5 in) to global sea level rise. However, marine ice sheet instability may cause
West Antarctica to contribute tens of centimeters more if it is triggered before 2100.
[83]: 1270
With higher warming instability would be much more likely, and could double
overall 21st century sea level rise.[84][85][86]
The fresh meltwater from the ice, 1100-1500 billion tons (GT) per year, dilutes the
saline Antarctic bottom water,[87][88] thus weakening the lower cell of the Southern
Ocean overturning circulation.[83]: 1240 Some research tentatively suggests a full
collapse of the circulation may occur between 1.7 °C (3.1 °F) and 3 °C (5.4 °F) of
global warming,[89] although the full effects are expected to unfold over multiple
centuries. They include less precipitation in the Southern Hemisphere but more in
the Northern Hemisphere, and an eventual decline of fisheries in the Southern
Ocean with a potential collapse of certain marine ecosystems.[90] Furthermore, while
many Antarctic species remain undiscovered, there are already documented
increases in flora and large fauna such as penguins are already seen struggling to
retain suitable habitat. On ice-free land, permafrost thaws, releasing not only
greenhouse gases, but also formerly frozen pollution.[
South Shetland Islands Overview

The South Shetland Islands are amongst the top attractions and places to visit in
Antarctica. Located on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, these groups of islands are
also home to the unique Deception Island and an active volcano. The islands offer
breath-taking views of ice sheets, icebergs and glaciers, and it is here where you can
find thousands of penguins flocking around. The interior black sand beaches on the
South Shetland Islands are also sites of several research stations and ancient
whaling stations that you can pay a visit to.
Location: 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula

Antarctic Peninsula Overview

Known as the northernmost part of Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula boasts of a
wide range of polar wildlife. From iceberg-clad waterways and passages to frequent
polar expedition cruises, natural harbours and snowy islands, the Antarctic Peninsula
is a wonder in itself. You can also soak in stunning views of towering glaciers,
penguin colonies and various types of whales here, including the minke whale,
humpback whale, killer whales and more.
Location: Northernmost part of Antarctica
Drake Passage Overview
One of the best places in Antarctica, the Drake Passage is home to the roughest
seas in the world. It is here in Drake Passage where the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific
Ocean converge with the Southern seas. This wide stretch of water between
Antarctica and South America is full of adventure, adrenaline and dread. You are
sure to experience the fear in your stomach from excitement, in addition to the
choppy waves, huge gales of water and more. The Drake Passage is also a great
place for albatross sightings in Antarctica.
Location: Between South America and Antarctica

South Georgia Overview

Amongst the top tourist places in Antarctica, South Georgia is a narrow but long
island in the South Atlantic Ocean. Surrounded by rising mountains, South Georgia
is known for its verdant grasslands, meadows, stunning glaciers and majestic fjords.
This place also boasts of an abundance of wildlife species, from different types of
penguins and seas to whales and more. You can also explore the remnants of the
whaling stations of the past here.
Location: South Atlantic Ocean

Falkland Islands Overview

The Falkland Islands in Antarctica is known all over the world for its vibrant
biodiversity, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the continent.
Exuding a British vibe and ambience, the islands take inspiration from the British
architecture and design, which is very clearly present here. The island also serves as
a home and nesting area to many different species of birds and marine animals,
such as albatross, penguins, etc. You can also visit several museums and historical
monuments here.
Location: South Atlantic Ocean, Patagonian Shelf