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Continent

Antarctica

an-TARK-tih-kuh

The southernmost continent, centered on the geographic South Pole and almost entirely covered by an ice sheet averaging over a mile thick, which holds most of the world's fresh water. It has no permanent population; a rotating community of a few thousand scientists and support staff, drawn from many nations under the Antarctic Treaty System, occupies research stations that swell in the austral summer and empty in winter. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Area (sq km)
14,200,000 1
National Geographic Atlas of the World figure, including the permanent ice shelves.
Population
0 1
No permanent population; transient research-station population runs about 5,000 in the austral summer to about 1,000 in winter.
Highest Point
Vinson Massif 1
Highest Elevation (m)
4892 1
Lowest Point
Denman Glacier (subglacial trench) 2
Country Count
30 1
Antarctica has no sovereign states of its own; this counts nations that are parties to the Antarctic Treaty System, a different kind of count from a continent's own resident countries.
Tectonic Plate Context
Antarctic Plate 3
Antarctica

Regions

The Antarctic

Antarctica

The Sub-Antarctic Islands

Antarctica
Connections

Associated With

Australia, Continents

Australia and Antarctica were joined within the supercontinent Gondwana. Rifting between them began around 85 million years ago and progressed from west to east; the two continents finally separated south of Tasmania by about 45 million years ago, opening the Tasman Seaway between them.

Source United States Geological Survey
Patagonia, Regions

This source names Antarctica directly: "faces the Drake Passage toward Antarctica."

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Ross Sea, Bodies of Water
Source Antarctica (Wikipedia)
South America, Continents

Why this is disputed. Antarctica and South America were joined within Gondwana and separated as the Drake Passage opened between them, allowing the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to begin flowing. Published estimates for when the passage fully opened range from about 49 to 17 million years ago; most reconstructions place the main separation between 34 and 23 million years ago, but the exact timing remains an active question in the tectonic literature.

Source United States Geological Survey
The Southern Ocean, Bodies of Water
Source Antarctica (Wikipedia)

Demonstrates

Katabatic Wind Formation, Physical Processes
Ozone Depletion, Physical Processes

Open Questions

Do the seven national territorial claims in Antarctica hold any real legal weight, given that the Antarctic Treaty freezes them without resolving them?, Open Questions
Source Territorial claims in Antarctica (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Antarctica (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Geography section, highest peak
    Vinson Massif, in the Ellsworth Mountains, is the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft).
  • opening paragraphs, treaty governance
    Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries, all of which are parties of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System.
  • Introduction, continent overview
    Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent.
  • Lead section, first sentence
    Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent.
  • Infobox, Area
    14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi)
  • Politics and governance section, seasonal population
    During the summer months, about 5,000 people reside at research stations, a figure that drops to around 1,000 in the winter.
  • Associated With: The Southern Ocean, Geography section, opening
    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.
  • Associated With: Ross Sea, Geography section, Transantarctic Mountains
    Antarctica is divided into West Antarctica and East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains, which stretch from Victoria Land to the Ross Sea.
View the Source
2. Extreme Points of Antarctica (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLowest point entry
Quote, Lowest point entry
The lowest point in Antarctica is within the Denman Glacier, which reaches 3.5 kilometers (11,500 feet) below sea level.
View the Source
3. List of Tectonic Plates (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAntarctic Plate entry
Quote, Antarctic Plate entry
Major tectonic plate containing Antarctica and the surrounding ocean floor, 60,900,000 km2
View the Source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.britannica.com/place/Antarctica, main article body (Land section, ice sheet and ice shelf paragraph)
Quote, britannica.com/place/Antarctica, main article body (Land section, ice sheet and ice shelf paragraph)
The continental ice sheet contains approximately 7 million cubic miles (about 29 million cubic km) of ice, representing about 90 percent of the world’s ice and 80 percent of its fresh water. Its average thickness is about 5,900 feet (1,800 metres). Ice shelves, or ice sheets floating on the sea, cover many parts of the Ross and Weddell seas. These shelves-the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf-together with other shelves around the continental margins, fringe about 45 percent of Antarctica. Around the Antarctic coast, shelves, glaciers, and ice sheets continually “calve,” or discharge, icebergs into the seas.
View the Source
National Geographic Atlas of the World
National Geographic Society, 2019World continents area table
The World Factbook
Central Intelligence AgencyAntarctica, population summaryView the Source
United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
  • Home To: The Antarctic Ice Sheet
  • Associated With: Australia
  • Associated With: South America
View the Source
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationHome To: The Southern OceanView the Source
Vinson Massif (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Vinson Massif, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Vinson Massif, Lead section
Vinson Massif is a large mountain massif in Antarctica
View the Source
Antarctic Peninsula (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Antarctic Peninsula, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Antarctic Peninsula, Lead section
the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica
View the Source
Open Questions (1 open question)
Do the seven national territorial claims in Antarctica hold any real legal weight, given that the Antarctic Treaty freezes them without resolving them?

Seven countries, Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom, have made territorial claims covering parts of Antarctica, and three of those claims, Argentina's, Chile's and the United Kingdom's, physically overlap the same sector. The 1959 Antarctic Treaty neither recognizes nor cancels any of these claims; it bars any new claim and bars any existing claim from being enlarged while the treaty is in force, leaving the underlying ownership question frozen rather than settled.

What would resolve this Either a new treaty replacing the current freeze with a settled territorial arrangement, or a claimant state formally renouncing its claim, would resolve which of the overlapping claims, if any, holds.
International lawTerritorial claims in Antarctica (Wikipedia)
Frequently Asked Questions

Does Antarctica have a permanent population?

No. Antarctica has no permanent residents, only a rotating scientific population.

Antarctica has no permanent population. It is governed by about 30 countries that are parties to the Antarctic Treaty System, and a rotating community of a few thousand scientists and support staff, drawn from many nations, occupies research stations there, with numbers larger in the austral summer than in the winter.

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