Antarctica, the world’s southernmost continent, is almost wholly covered by an ice sheet and is about 5.5 million square miles (14.2 million square km) in size. Though antarctica is really, really chilly, it is considered a desert because it receives very little rain or snowfall The small amount of snow that does fall does not melt but builds up over hundreds and thousands of years to form large, thick ice sheets. Without any ice, antarctica would emerge as a giant peninsula and archipelago of mountainous islands, known as lesser antarctica, and a single large landmass about the size of australia, known as greater antarctica. Antarctica, a continent of unparalleled ice and stark beauty, is earth’s southernmost landmass, representing a vital frontier for scientific research and a testament to nature’s formidable power. Visit the definitions and notes page to view a description of each topic.
Situated almost entirely south of the antarctic circle and surrounded by the southern ocean (also known as the antarctic ocean), it contains the geographic south pole Antarctica is the coldest, windiest and driest continent on earth The antarctic ice sheet contains about 7.2 million cubic miles (30 million cubic kilometers) in an area just under 1.5 times. Antarctica is the harshest continent on the earth due to its coldest, windiest, and driest climate It is different from the other 6 continents because it has no country and permanent human residents. Spanning an area of nearly 5.4 million square miles (14 million km 2), it accounts for 9.4% of the planet’s total land area.
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