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1. Antarctica is the southernmost continent on Earth.
2. The South Pole is found in Antarctica.
3. Antarctica is surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean.
4. Antarctica is larger than Europe and almost double the size of Australia.
5. Most of Antarctica is covered with ice over 1.6 kilometers thick.
6. If the ice of Antarctica melted, all the world’s oceans would rise 60 to 65 meters.
7. Because it rains so little, Antarctica is considered a desert.
8. The lowest temperature on Earth occurred in 1983 at Vostok Station, Antarctica, measuring -89.2°C (-128.6°F).
9. The cold and dry conditions in the McMurdo Dry Valley region of Antarctica are so close to those on Mars that NASA tested there for Viking missions.
10. Antarctica is the best place in the world to find meteorites.
11. Even though people do not live permanently in Antarctica, there are several thousand people who live and work at various research stations on the continent.
12. While Antarctica has difficult living conditions, a number of plants and animals have adapted to survive on this frozen continent.
13. There is a small lake in the Dry Valleys, called Don Juan Pond, which has the most concentrated salts on Earth.
14. Well-known animals that live in Antarctica include penguins and seals.
15. Antarctica is the only continent without native species of ants or reptiles.
16. It has been estimated that during the feeding season in Antarctica, an adult blue whale eats about 4 million krill a day, which means 4 tons, every day for 6 months.
17. The name ″Antarctica″ comes from a Greek word meaning ″opposite the north″.
18. About 90% of the ice on Earth is found in Antarctica.
If you want to find out about the Aurora Australis, check out our article on this topic: What is Aurora Australis?
[Photo from Pixabay]
