Antarctica the coldest, highest, driest, weirdest place on earth

Antarctica is the fifth largest of the earth’s seven continents. During the winter it doubles in size because of the large amount of sea ice that forms at its edges. The name Arctic and Antarctica come from arktos -Greek for “bear”. This refers to the constellation “The Great Bear”, which can always be seen in the north.

Antarctica is more than 95% covered in ice, and it contains about 90% of world’s fresh water. Because of its thick ice cover, it is the highest of all continents. The snow and ice of Antarctica are the purest in the world. The general isolation from the remainder of the world has allowed it to avoid the industrial pollution that is common to the other continents.

Antarctica is the coldest continent. The lowest temperature ever recorded anywhere on earth,-88.3C, was in 1960, at the Soviet Union’s Vostok Station.

Antarctica can be classified as a true desert, as the equivalent of just 7cm of water falls annually. It hasn’t rained at the South Pole since the end of the Pleistocene era, 1,000,000 years ago. The interior has almost continuous daylight during the summer and continuous darkness during the winter.

It has only two species of flowering plants, and virtually no flying insects. The surrounding ocean, however, abounds in living creatures. Large numbers of whales feed on the rich marine life. Seals and birds live and breed, but the most prominent inhabitant of the Antarctic is the penguin, of which there are over twelve million.

Today around a thousand people call Antarctica home for several years at a time. Braving winds that freeze the flesh, the constant threat of snow blindness, and the intense, unremitting cold, they are there for the extraordinary scientific treasures that await discovery. The ice retains ancient atmospheric samples and meteorites; the skies offer a direct line to space. This is the one place still untouched by man that is a barometer for the potentially ruinous impact our species is having on the planet.

Poem

The Seasons
The seasons change

Four times a year

From spring to winter

They appear

 

Winter is white,

Spring time is green,

Summer is golden

Autumn is brown.

Four lovely seasons

To make up a year