Antarctica

Several Antarctic ice streams flow to one of the many Antarctic ice shelves, a process described by ice-sheet dynamics. Antarctica is divided into West Antarctica and East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains, which stretch from Victoria Land to the Ross Sea. During the summer, the ice at the edges of the lakes can melt, and liquid moats temporarily form. 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, and comparable to the surface area of Pluto. They searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting names such as Ultima and Antipodea. Assertion of the presence of such a land lasted until the European discovery of Australia.

Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world’s southernmost active volcano and erupts around 10 times each day. 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. The lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet occur mainly in the McMurdo Dry Valleys or various oases.

These ecosystems may harbor novel species that have remained concealed for centuries, sustained by nutrient-bearing ocean currents. Researchers uncovered ecosystems unexpectedly rich in large corals, ancient sponges, icefish, giant sea spiders, and even octopuses at depths of up to 1,300 metres (4,300 ft). In January 2025, the detachment of the massive iceberg A-84 (comparable in size to the city of Chicago) from the George VI Ice Shelf provided a rare opportunity to explore the seafloor beneath floating ice shelves using robotic submersibles. Factors that may aid in their distribution include temperature differences between the deep ocean at the poles and the equator of no more than 5 °C (9 °F) and the major current systems or marine conveyor belts which are able to transport eggs and larva. The research found that more than 235 marine organisms live in both polar regions, having bridged the gap of 12,000 km (7,456 mi). The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica; it and the Adélie penguin breed farther south than any other penguin.

• In 1937, Ingrid Christensen became the first woman to step onto the Antarctic mainland.
• The INStabilities & Thresholds in ANTarctica (INSTANT) Scientific Research Programme proposes three research themes, investigating the complex interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, and solid Earth in Antarctica.
• Over 74,000 tourists visited the region during the 2019–2020 season, of which 18,500 travelled on cruise ships but did not leave them to explore on land.

Science then replaced whaling and sealing as the primary year-round human activity in Antarctica. While the terrestrial ecosystem contains more than a thousand known species of organisms, most of these are microorganisms. These shelves—the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf—together with other shelves around the continental margins, fringe about 45 percent of Antarctica. East prabhu365 apk and West Antarctica are separated by the approximately 2,100-mile- (about 3,400-km-) long Transantarctic Mountains. These deep embayments of the Southern Ocean make the continent somewhat pear-shaped, dividing it into two unequal-sized parts. Tourism in Antarctica and the surrounding region can be traced to the late 19th century, but organized commercial tourism started only in the mid-1960s.

Conservation and environmental protection

Antarctic krill, which congregates in large schools, is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, being an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, and many bird species, such as penguins and albatrosses. The far more stable East Antarctic ice sheet may cause a sea level rise of only 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) to 0.9 m (2 ft 11 in) from the current level of warming, a small fraction of the 53.3 m (175 ft) contained in the full ice sheet. A sea level rise of 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) would occur if the ice sheet collapses, which would leave ice caps on the mountains, and a rise of 4.3 m (14 ft 1 in) would occur if those ice caps also melt. The relative warmth of the Arctic Ocean is transferred through the Arctic sea ice and moderates temperatures in the Arctic region.

Antarctica

Sealers were among the earliest to go closer to the Antarctic landmass, perhaps in the earlier part of the 19th century. Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. Much larger than and unrelated to Antarctica, Terra Australis was a landmass that classical scholars presumed necessary to balance the known lands in the northern hemisphere. Early world maps, like the 1513 Piri Reis map, feature the hypothetical continent Terra Australis. All commercial whaling is banned in the zone, though Japan has continued to hunt whales in the area, ostensibly for research purposes. It covers 50 million km2 (19 million sq mi) and completely surrounds the Antarctic continent.

What is the lowest temperature recorded in Antarctica?

The view of space from Earth is improved by a thinner atmosphere at higher elevations and a lack of water vapour in the atmosphere caused by freezing temperatures. Biomedical scientists have made discoveries concerning the spreading of viruses and the body’s response to extreme seasonal temperatures. Argentina, Australia, Chile, and Russia also have a large scientific presence on Antarctica. The Belgian Princess Elisabeth station is one of the most modern stations and the first to be carbon-neutral. Overland sightseeing flights operated out of Australia and New Zealand until the Mount Erebus disaster in 1979, when an Air New Zealand plane crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all of the 257 people on board. Tourism in Antarctica is, in part, ecologically focused with expeditions being offered for bird watching tours due to the high numbers of Adélie, King, and Gentoo penguins – among other species.

Ice shelves are floating sheets of ice that are connected to the continent. The treaty does not legally recognize any claims.The Antarctic also includes island territories within the Antarctic Convergence. The continent of Antarctica makes up most of the Antarctic region. The continent was ice-free during most of its lengthy geologic history, and there is no reason to believe it will not become so again.