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Introduction

The Antarctic

T he South Pole is one of the coldest places on Earth. It is much colder than the North Pole. Even in summer the temperature never rises above freezing. Usually it is 5-20°F (20-30°C) below zero. In winter it can be twice as cold as that. It is so cold that there is hardly any snowfall. When you breathe at those temperatures your teeth hurt. You must always wear a mask over your face, but the water in your breath soon ices this up. What is under your feet is stranger still. It looks like the snow and ice at the North Pole. But here the ice is nearly 2 miles (almost 3 km) thick. No wonder it is so cold. How Big is Antarctica? Antarctica is an immense land. It is twice the size of Australia. The US and Mexico would easily fit inside it. When you stand at the South Pole you are nearly 1,253 miles (2,000 km) from the sea. Scientists calculate that Antarctica contains nearly three-quarters of all the fresh water in the world. All of this water is frozen into the gigantic ice cap that covers Antarctica. Whole mountain chains have been covered by the ice cap. Only the tops of the peaks show through. These bare rocks are called nunataks. The small areas of ice-free rock around the coast of Antarctica are most precious. Here millions of penguins and seabirds breed. These birds need bare rock on which to nest. Thousands of birds squeeze up together on the few areas of rock.

A ntarctica is the coldest and most isolated continent on Earth. It is also very high—on average between 1.25–1.75 miles (2000-3000 m) above sea level. Freezing winds howl across the landscape with few natural barriers to prevent them.

Antarctic Polar Front Sea ice in summer Sea ice in winter

Antarctic Boundaries The boundaries of the Antarctic are much easier to define than those of the Arctic. The Southern Ocean separates Antarctica from all the other continents. South America is the closest but is still 466 miles (750 km) away. Africa is 2,485 miles (4,000 km) from the coast of Antarctica. The ice cap and sea ice make the Southern Ocean very cold. There is a point where the cold water from Antarctica meets the warm water from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. This is called the Antarctic Polar Front. The Polar Front runs right around the Antarctic and marks a clear edge to the continent.

T he king penguin is nearly 3 feet tall. It does not build a nest but keeps its egg or chick warm on its feet.

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