Portal:Antarctica
Antarctica
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is completely surrounded by the Southern Ocean. The nearest land mass is South America at 965 km.
Its area is close to 14 million km2. Antarctica is the fifth largest continent after Asia, Africa, North America and South America. Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. The minimum recorded surface temperature on the planet, −89.2 °C, was at the Soviet research station Vostok in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. Antarctica has 98% of its total area covered by ice. The mean thickness of the ice sheet is 1829 m and the maximum thickness has been measured as 4776 m. While most of the ice in East Antarctica is on bed rock, in West Antarctica a majority of it floats on water. Due to accumulation of ice over millions of years, the continent has been depressed by about 600 m on average. Since there is little precipitation, except at the coasts, the interior of the continent is technically the largest desert in the world. There is no permanent population and there is no evidence of any existing or pre-historic indigenous population. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including mosses and lichens, and several species of penguins, ice seals and the Antarctic fur seals. Selected article
Polar night is a phenomenon resulting from the axial tilt of the Earth respective to the Sun, where the Sun does not rise above the horizon during any 24 hour period in the regions of the Earth in proximity to the poles. The length of this time when the sun is constantly below the horizon varies from 20 hours at locations on the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle to 179 days at the geographic poles. The period of polar night can trigger depression in some people. People who suffer from seasonal affective disorder are particularly susceptible.
Selected pictureThe entrance to the Cámara Base, located on Half Moon Island. The base is operational only in the summer, and is only accesable via the trail seen in the foreground. WikiProjectsThings to do
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Airports in Antarctica • Antarctica agreements • Antarctica geography stubs • Argentine Antarctic Territory • British Antarctic Territory • Chilean Antarctic Territory • Churches in Antarctica • Exploration of Antarctica • Explorers of Antarctica • Fauna of Antarctica • Flora of Antarctica • Geography of Antarctica • Glaciers of Antarctica • Headlands of Antarctica • History of Antarctica • Ice shelves • Indian Antarctic Program • Natural history of Antarctica • New Zealand and the Antarctic • Operation Deep Freeze • Outposts of Antarctica • People of Antarctica • Ross Dependency • South African National Antarctic Programme • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands • South Shetland Islands • Transport in Antarctica
TopicsHistory: List of Antarctic expeditions • History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands • Research stations in Antarctica Geography: Geology of Antarctica • Climate of Antarctica • Antarctica ecozone • Antarctic Peninsula • Eastern Antarctica • List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands • Extreme points of the Antarctic • McMurdo Sound • Ross Sea • Weddell Sea Geopolitics: Argentine Antarctic Geopolitics • Antarctic Treaty Secretariat • Brazil Antarctic Geopolitics • Chile Antarctic Geopolitics • Flags of Antarctica Demographics: Colonization of Antarctica • Religion in Antarctica Related portalsWikimedia |