The Southernmost Continent

Antarctica comes from the Greek word “arktos” or bear, and is tied to the northern constellation Ursa Major, or Great Bear; arktikos or the Arctic was therefore was named “land under the constellation Great Bear.” “Ant” means anti, so Antarktikos is the anti-Arctic because it's on the opposite side of the earth. 

For a scientist interested in exploring polar environments, there are truly only two places to go—very far north or very far south. At the North Pole lies the Arctic, a brilliant frozen ocean surrounded by land, rich with wildlife, and home to the Inuit for some 4,000 years. Heading to the South Pole, explorers find themselves in the land of extremes: Antarctica. Antarctica is the fifth largest and southernmost continent, and is known to be the coldest, windiest, driest, highest, iciest place on earth.

Straddling the South Pole, 98% of Antarctica is covered by frozen water, making it an ideal spot for scientists studying water and sea ice. The jagged, circular-shaped continent is surrounded by the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans (Southern Ocean).  The continent's shape is marked by its long arm--the Antarctic Peninsula stretching towards South America--and two large indentations, the Ross and Weddell Seas and their respective ice shelves.

It’s A Desert!

It is hard to believe, but despite a landscape composed of snow, glaciers and icy waters, Antarctica is considered a desert. On average, the interior of the continent receives only about 50mm, or 2in, of precipitation per year, and a desert is defined as a region that has less than 254mm, or 10in, of annual rainfall or precipitation!

How Cold Is It?

In the high plateau of the interior region, average temperatures hover around -50 deg. C (-58 deg. F), although they can easily fall as low as -70 deg.C (-94F). In fact, the coldest temperature ever recorded on earth of -89 deg. C (-129 deg. F) was measured at the Russian Vostok Station at the Southern Geomagnetic Pole. The winds howl, too, with gales frequently blustering over 200 mph.

Ice, Mountains and Lakes…

As the fifth largest of the seven continents, Antarctica is about 1.5 times the size of the USA. It covers over 14 million sq km, including its islands and ice-shelves, and comprises about 9% of the world's land surface. Because of the sea ice that forms around the coasts, Antarctica‘s size doubles in the winter! The nearest landmasses are South America and New Zealand.

How High Is The Highest Continent?

The average elevation of the Antarctic continent is approximately 2500m. Antarctica contains two major mountain belts – the Transantarctic Mountains and the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula. Rising 4,897 m above sea level, the Vinson Massif is the highest mountain range on the continent. It was discovered in 1935 by the U.S. explorer Lincoln Ellsworth.

Despite being covered by mountains, much of Antarctica’s geography looks to be flat because of the very thick sheets that tend to fill in gaps between the mountains, making it appear more even.  Using advanced equipment much like medical MRI’s, though, scientists have been able to "see through" the ice to the mountains hidden below.  With this technique, scientists were able to discover the Gamburstev Mountain Range buried far beneath the deep ice, as well as a lake flowing at the foot of the range.

Earth's Water and Cooling System

Antarctica has an average ice depth of 7000ft.  Notably, along the Polar Plateau ice has been measured at a depth of over 15,000ft!  The volume of ice covering the frozen continent ties up nearly 70% of the world’s total fresh water supply. Increasingly warmer global temperatures, though, threaten Antarctica’s ice stores.

In addition to the threat of a decrease in this vital water resource, the vast surface area of Antarctica’s ice reaches are essential for helping to keep the planet cool. As the sun shines down on earth, rays are either absorbed or reflected based upon a surface’s albedo (reflectivity). Compared to most uncovered terrestrial landmasses as well as darker seawaters, ice has an extremely high ability to reflect back the sun’s rays. The warmer the atmosphere gets the more the ice melts, resulting in an increasingly accelerated global warming as less and less ice is available to reflect back the incoming rays.