Antarctica

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Antarctica is the continent, situated in the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle. It is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. Antarctica means “opposite to the north”. It is coldest place on earth and is driest and windiest continent. Sunburn is often a health issue as the snow surface reflects almost all of the ultraviolet light falling on it. Antarctica is world’s 5th largest continent with 14,000,000 km square area. 108,108.6 square mile area is ice free and 5,297,321.6 square mile area is covered with ice which averages at least 1.6 kilometers in thickness. The continent has about 90% of the world's ice. If all of this ice were melted, sea levels would rise about 200 ft. The continent ranks 7th with 1 permanent and 1,000 temporary residents. As there is no permanent resident, only cold-adapted plants and animals like penguins, seals, mosses, lichen, and many types of algae subsist here. Natural resources like coal, hydrocarbons, iron ore, platinum, copper, chromium, nickel, gold and other minerals are also found here. The continent is divided into two hemispheres, the Eastern and the Western hemispheres. The highest peak of the continent is Vinson Massif with 16,050 ft height. Vinson Massif is located in the Ellsworth Mountains. There are many mountains in Antarctica surrounded by the western and eastern hemispheres and islands. The continent is also known for volcanic eruptions, Mount Erebus Mountain is known to be active but other sleeping volcanoes may also have possibility of eruption. Some underwater volcanoes were also found by American and Canadian researchers in the Antarctic Peninsula. There are about 70 lakes that lie at the base of the ice sheet. The largest lake under the ice sheet is Lake Vostok.

Posted On 28-Jan-2009 10:53:35

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Map of Antarctica

Locations within Antarctica

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