25 Amazing Facts About Antarctica

1.) The total 14 million square kilometers in Antarctica, almost 98% is covered with ice sheets.

2.) Winds can blow as fast as 320 miles per hour in some parts of Antarctica.

3.) Interestingly, Earth’s core keeps from freezing some 300 lakes beneath Antarctica.

4.) Antarctica has no official time zone.

5.) You can spot a water fall with red blood like water in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valley.

6.) Antarctica is the largest desert in the world.

7.) The largest iceberg that broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf was 170 miles long and 25 miles wide.

8.) You cannot find trees or shrubs in Antarctica.

9.) During summer months, more of sunlight reaches the surface at the South Pole than at the equator during a similar period of time.

10.) In 1979, Emile Marco Palma from Argentina is the only child born on the continent. His pregnant mother was sent specifically by Argentina to claim a portion of the continent.

11.) During the summer season, there are almost 4000 researchers in Antarctica while this number gets reduced to only 1000 in the winters.

12.) Fifty two nations have now signed the Antarctic Treaty which was first signed on Dec. 1, 1959. This treaty was established to dedicate this continent to peaceful research.

13.) The Transantarctic Mountains that are 3500 kilometers long divide the continent into east and west sections. This range is among the longest mountain ranges in the world.

14.) 29 million cubic kilometers of ice is deposited in the ice caps in the continent country.

15.) In case of a meltdown of Antarctic ice sheets, 60 to 65 meters of rise in the sea levels will be seen across the world.

16.) The first woman ever to set foot on the continent in 1935 is Cathgerine Mikkelson, the wife of a Norwegian whaling captain.

17.) Antarctica Peninsula which is also known as “The Banana Belt” – is a place in the continent, which is visited by tourist due to its mild climate as compared with the rest of the continent.

18.) You could enjoy one long night and one long day if you were in Antarctica in the area below 60 degrees south. There the Sun sets in March and rises in October.

19.) There are no land mammals in Antarctica.

20.) Almost 90% of the world’s ice in the form of ice sheets is available in Antarctica. The average thickness of the sheet is 2,160 meters, which is 4,776 meters thick at the best.

21.) It is the emptiest, driest, coldest, highest and windiest place on the face of the planet.

22.) Eskimos and polar bear are not from Antarctica but from the Arctic.

23.) The lowest ever temperature recorded in Antarctica was at the Russian Vostok station. It was – 89.6°C (-129°F).

24.) The ice fish in Antarctica has no red pigment – haemoglobin.

25.) Vinson Massif at 16,362 feet is the highest point in Antarctica.