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Antarctica is the world's fourth largest continent at 14,000,000 square kilometers. The continent lies entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, all within the southern hemisphere, and is completely surrounded by the Southern or Antarctic Ocean.
The continent is charecterised by it's extreme climate which renders the whole area as the world's coldest, windiest, driest and most remote landmass, which in turn make it the largest high altitude desert on earth.
Ninety eight per cent of the continent is covered in sheet ice, measuring 1.6 meters thick, and the other two per cent consists of dry, semi - arid, polar oases or polar deserts.
Politically the continent is divided into East and West Antarctica, with the eastern side being positioned in the eastern hemisphere and the western side being situated in the western hemisphere.This continental divide is physically noted by the vast Transantarctic Mountain Range, which runs the entire length of the continent for 3,500 kilometers. The mountain range is between one hundred and three hundred kilometers wide and it's highest peak is Mount Kilpatrick at 4,528 meters high.
The area around the Trans Antarctic Mountain Range is covered by the Antarctic or Polar Plateau, a vast area of sheet ice which covers an area of 1,000 square meters, situated at an altitude of around 3,000 meters.
The west of the continent is covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, a continental ice sheet which measures 25.4 million cubic meters, situated between the Ross Ice Shelf and the western side of the Trans Antarctic Mountain Range.
In all, the continent has twenty four major mountain ranges, which are further divided into several smaller ranges and massifs. Nine ranges are contained within the Trans Antarctic Range, ten ranges are situated in West Antarctica and six ranges are contained within East Antarctica.
The continent's highest mountain is the Vinson Massif, at 4,892 meters high, situated in the Sentinel Mountain Range of East Antarctica.
Antarctica also has around thirty four volcanoes, four of which are active. The largest of Antarctica's volcanoes is Mount Berlin in West Antarctica, at 3,500 meters high, and the world's most southerly located volcano is Mount Erebus, shown below, situated on Ross Island, both of which are active.
The continent contains the world's largest area of fresh water, which is contained within several rivers and sub glacial lakes. Antarctica’s longest river is the Onyx River, shown above, in West Antarctica at thirty two kilometers long and the continent's largest lake is Lake Vostock, situated in East Antarctica, which has a surface area of 26, 000 square meters.
The continent is surrounded by hundreds of islands, the largest of which is Alexander Island, situated in the Bellingshausen Sea, which covers an area of 49,070 square kilometers.The continent also contains one of the world's longest peninsulas, the Antarctic Peninsula, situated in West Antarctica between Drakes Passage and the Weddell Sea, which measures 1,300 kilometers long.
ANTARCTICA'S LARGEST ISLANDS
Alexander Island - 49,070 sq km - British Antarctic Territory.
Berkner Island - 43,873 sq km - British Antarctic Territory.
Thurston Island - 15,700 sq km - Unclaimed territory.
Carney Island - 8,500 sq km - Unclaimed territory.
Roosevelt Island - 7,910 sq km - New Zealand Antarctic Territory.
The continent also consists of eight polar oases, which make up just two per cent of the overall landmass. These dry areas are naturally free of snow and ice and are charecterised by their low humidity and fierce katabatic winds. These areas harbour a small population of flora, fauna and tundra vegetation and some animal life, mainly in the form of penguins and seals.
The continent's largest oasis is the McMurdo Dry Valleys situated on Victoria Island, which covers an area of 4,900 square kilometers.
ANTARCTICA’S LARGEST ICE SHELVES
Antarctica is surrounded by 1, 541,700 square kilometers of ice shelves, which are several hundred meters thick, which are attached to around forty per cent of the continent’s coastline.
Ross Ice Shelf – 487,000 sq km – West Antarctica
Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf – 422,420 sq km – West Antarctica
Amery Ice Shelf – 62,620 sq km – East Antarctica
Larsen Ice Shelf – 48,600 sq km – West Antarctica
Riiser Larsen Ice Shelf – 48,180 sq km – West Antarctica
LANDS OF ANTARCTICA
The continent is divided into the two areas of East Antarctica and West Antarctica, with the western region containing five areas or lands, and the eastern region containing thirteen areas or lands.
LANDS OF WEST ANTARCTICA
Ellesworth Land
Graham Land – situated on the Antarctic Peninsula
King Edward VII Land
Marie Byrd Land - the world's largest, single, unclaimed territory.
Palmer Land – situated on the Antarctic Peninsula
LANDS OF EAST ANTARCTICA
Adelie Land
Coates Land
Enderby Land
George V Land
Kemp Land
Mac Robertson Land
Oates Land
Princess Elisabeth Land
Queen Mary land
Queen Maud land
Wilhelm II Land
Wilkes Land
Victoria Land
The mainland of Antarctica has no permanent population, although thirty countries do man around seventy permanent research stations on the continent. The population of people running these stations can vary between one thousand temporary residents during the Winter months, to over four thousand temporary residents during the Summer months.
The only permanent population of Antarctica is situated on King George Island, which is part of the South Shetland Island Archipelago, where a permanent population of around five hundred people live and work on the island's many weather and research centres.
Tourists do visit the two British archipelagos of the South Shetland Islands and the South Orkney Islands and some parts of West Antarctica, all of which are passengers from visiting cruise ships, but these visitors only stay for a few hours, or even minutes, at a time.
The continental mainland does have a few overnight visitors however in the form of mountaineers, who visit the continent in order to scale it’s many peaks and massifs, or special expedition parties wishing to visit the Ceremonial or Geographic South Pole station, pictured above.
THE SOUTH POLE MARKERS
There are four points of Antarctica which mark the South Pole, all of which are situated in East Antarctica, they are ;
1) - The Geographic or Ceremonial South Pole
2) - The Magnetic South Pole
3) - The Geo - Magnetic South Pole
4) - The South Pole of Inaccessibility
To read about the Antarctic Ocean visit our page - The Arctic and Antarctic oceans.
All photo images courtesy of the U.S Geological Survey
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