About Antarctica

Learning about Antarctica

About Antarctica

Antarctica . . . this frozen land is the highest, driest, windiest and most isolated continent on earth. Wild, untamed and unforgiving, it is a place where nature reigns supreme. The environment is both hostile and breathtakingly beautiful, the wildlife hardy and unique. A land of intrigue, Antarctica tested the spirit of early explorers and has captured the heart of modern-day adventurers.

Nature unleashes her mighty force in Antarctica. Temperatures plummet to below minus 80°C and winds rage to over 300 kilometres an hour. A land dominated by ice, over 99 percent of the surface area is covered by an ice sheet averaging more than two kilometres in thickness, and by sheer weight compresses the land mass below by an average of 600 metres. Antarctica holds 75 percent of the earth'sfresh water which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by 70 metres. In winter, when the surrounding ocean freezes, sea ice covers an area of 20 million square kilometres, more than doubling the area of Antarctic surface ice. Regardless of all this ice, Antarctica is the world's driest desert, receiving less than 50 millimetres of precipitation a year.

Despite the extreme and barren nature of this frozen land, Antarctica supports an array of wildlife found nowhere else on earth. The world's largest penguin, the Emperor, breeds over the harsh Antarctic winter, surviving temperatures of minus 50°C. The Weddell seal, the world's most southerly breeding mammal, produces milk so rich that it's pups grow an incredible two kilograms a day. In springtime, the Adélie penguin walks over hundreds of kilometres of sea ice to reach its coastal breeding colonies. Antarctica is truly an astonishing land inhabited by astonishing animals.

 

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Antarctica Facts

Around 500 BC, Aristotle suggested a landmass must lie in the far south, effectively balancing the landmasses in the north. As the northern landmasses were under the constellation 'Arktos' (the bear), Aristotle named the fictional southern landmass 'Antarktikos' - opposite to the north.

Two hundred million years ago, Antarctica was joined to Australia, India, Africa, New Zealand and South America in the giant continental landmass of Gondwana.

The average thickness of ice in Antarctica is more than 2 kilometres (1.25 miles); in Wilkes Land, East Antarctica, it reaches a maximum depth of 4776m (15670ft).

The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89.6ºC (129.3ºF) at Vostok station, East Antarctica. Spare a thought for the scientific community working at Vostok, as the highest temperature ever recorded there was -13.6ºC (7.5ºF).

Wind speeds of up to 320km/hr (200m/hr) have been recorded at Mawson, East Antarctica. This is twice the velocity of hurricane force winds.

Antarctica's only permanent inhabitants over winter are Weddell seals, Emperor penguins and humans.

Australia is 2500 kilometres (1550 miles) away from Antarctica; approximately the distance from Melbourne to Alice Springs.

As recently as 2½ to 3 million years ago, vegetation similar to the Tasmanian cold temperate rainforests grew near the South Pole.

Antarctica has never had a war.

Antarctica Treaty

Antarctica is a place of extraordinary beauty and wildness, an immense store of information about the world's past, and a place where collaboration underpins the profound science conducted year round.

It was through the cooperation of scientists in the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) that a unique international institution was born: the Antarctic Treaty. Coming into effect in 1961, the treaty set aside Antarctica for peaceful purposes, free from military conflict, and as a place for the pursuit of science and the free exchange of scientific information.

From the Treaty grew two other remarkable agreements, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and the Protocol on Environmental Protection. Together, these three international instruments and their underlying spirit of partnership make Antarctica a unique model of global collaboration in politics, science and the protection of the environment.