Antarctica Facts
> Antarctica is larger than Europe and twice as big as Australia,
but only 2% is ice-free
> It's the world's driest continent, with an annual snowfall equating
to just 200 millimeters of water. That's even less than the annual
rainfall of the world's hot deserts!
> The entire continent of Antarctica has just one ATM
> The coldest temperature ever recorded on earth was in Antarctica:
-89.6°C at Vostok station in July 1983
> Antarctica holds 70% of the planet's fresh water and 90% of the
planet's freshwater ice. The average ice sheet is a whopping
1.4 kilometres thick!
> Antarctica is the only continent which doesn't have its own
endemic species of ant
> During winter the pack-ice zone in the Southern Ocean almost
doubles in size, extending to between 19 and 22 million
square kilometres
> Australia has three permanent bases in the wilderness: Mawson
(1954), Davis (1957) and Casey (1969). Don't forget to give them
a wave if we fly over!
NATURE'S MASTERPIECE
It's over 100 years since Ernest Shackleton
made his pioneering expedition across
the South Pole. Knowledge of the driest,
coldest and windiest continent on earth
has come a long way since then...
Weddell Sea
Average minimum
extent of sea ice
Ross Sea
Southern
Ocean
South
Pacific
Ocean
Indian
Ocean
South Atlantic
Ocean
Shackleton
Ice Shelf
Amundsen
Sea
An
t
a
r
c
t
i
c Cir
cl
e
Bellingshausen
Sea
Ronne
Ice Shelf
Ross
Ice Shelf
Amery
Ice Shelf
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