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. Jan 30, 2026antarctica, the world’s southernmost continent, is almost wholly covered by an ice sheet and is about 5.5 million square miles (14.2 million square km) in size. Jan 20, 2026though antarctica is really, really chilly, it is considered a desert because it receives very little rain or snowfall.
The small amount of snow that does fall does not melt but builds up over. Without any ice, antarctica would emerge as a giant peninsula and archipelago of mountainous islands, known as lesser antarctica, and a single large landmass about the size of australia, known as. Jun 16, 2025in this guide, we serve up a cliff-notes sort of sketch of the white continent (as antarctica’s often called), and also provide a slew of links to more in-depth articles on specific topics,.
Antarctica “the white continent” is the fifth largest continent in the world with its unique wildlife, extreme coldness, dryness, windiness and unexplored territories. The word antarctica is derived from the. Antarctica is earth’s southernmost continent, covering an area of 13.72 million square kilometers, making it the fifth-largest continent by land area.
Despite its massive size, antarctica has no. Jan 20, 2026visit the definitions and notes page to view a description of each topic. Situated in the southern hemisphere and largely south of the antarctic circle, antarctica is surrounded by the southern ocean.
At 14.4 million km², it is the fifth-largest continent in area after asia, africa,. Apr 17, 2025antarctica is the coldest, windiest and driest continent on earth. The antarctic ice sheet contains about 7.2 million cubic miles (30 million cubic kilometers) in an area just under 1.5 times.