Antarctica

Antarctica is a continent located at the bottom of the world, surrounding the South Pole. Its latitude is 66 degrees 33’ south and its nearest neighbors are South America, which is 1,100 kilometers away and New Zealand, which is approximately 2,400 kilometers away.









          Size and Shape



          Antarctica is 11.7 million square kilometers and its highest mountain, Vinson Massif, is measured at 5,140 meters. It has thousands of feet of snow and ice covering the whole continent. Antarctica has very high mountains that are increasing all the time with the snow and ice that are falling from the sky.

          The continent’s icebergs are all different shapes and sizes of loose blocks of ice breaking away from the mainland.



          Population



          There are no native peoples who live in the Antarctic Circle. Eskimos live only in the Arctic Circle near the North Pole.



The only people who stay in Antarctica are scientists that check the climate change from year to year. At the South Pole there are a hundred and thirty men and women scientists and military people who live there for the summer only and in winter, only about twenty men and women scientists stay there.



In the summer time, tourists come on day trips but there are no resorts, so they stay on small cruise ships.



Climate



The Antarctic region is actually a dessert, because it is incapable of supporting vegetation or people. It never rains in Antarctica because it’s so cold that rain turns to snow.



Raging winds can get up to 200 miles an hour (hurricane force).



The temperature in the summer, which is from October to mid-February, can be minus 10 Celsius. In the winter, temperatures can be minus 50 degrees Celsius. (The coldest day measured was minus 88 degrees Celsius!) The wind chill factor can make a difference of 10 degrees.



In summer, Antarctica has 24 hour sunlight and in winter, there are...