Antarctica

Antarctica is the continent at the southernmost part of the Earth. It surrounds the South Pole and is almost entirely covered by a giant sheet of ice. Antarctica is about 5.5 million square miles in size, which makes it bigger than the United States and Mexico combined. No country owns it, and no people live there permanently.

The ice sheet that covers Antarctica is huge. In some places it is more than two miles thick. If all of that ice melted, the oceans around the world would rise by about 200 feet. That is taller than a 15-story building. Around 70 percent of all the fresh water on Earth is frozen in Antarctic ice.

Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. The lowest natural temperature ever recorded on the planet was measured there in 1983. It reached 128.6 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. At that temperature, boiling water tossed into the air freezes before it hits the ground. It is also the windiest and driest continent. Some valleys in Antarctica have not had rain or snow for nearly two million years.

Very few animals can survive on land in such cold. The ones that do are tough. Emperor penguins raise their chicks on the ice during the long winter. Weddell seals rest on the ice and dive under it to hunt. The waters around Antarctica are much more crowded. Whales, orcas, squid, fish, and tiny shrimp called krill all thrive in the Southern Ocean.

People did not see Antarctica until the year 1820. Explorers raced to reach the South Pole in the early 1900s. A Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen got there first, in December 1911. A British team led by Robert Scott arrived about a month later. Scott and his men died on the trip back. The British explorer Ernest Shackleton tried to cross the whole continent in 1914. His ship, the Endurance, got stuck and crushed by ice. Every member of his crew survived, though, after a rescue that took almost two years.

Today, about 30 countries run science stations in Antarctica. Around 1,000 to 5,000 scientists live there at different times of the year. They study weather, glaciers, wildlife, and stars. In 1959, countries agreed to a treaty that protects Antarctica. The rules say the continent can only be used for peaceful science. No mining, no weapons, and no military bases are allowed. Antarctica is the one continent that humans have agreed to share.