Minus Marvel Antarctica

Nearly twice the size of Australia, Antarctica is not only the coldest, driest and windiest continent, but it also has the highest average elevation of all the continents. About 98 per cent of its 14 million sq km expanse is covered by ice that averages at least 1.6 km in thickness. Here are some surreal glimpses from this white wilderness

Cold Facts

The Antarctic ice sheet contains 90 per cent of the world’s ice — that’s about 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water. The thick ice cover makes it the highest of all continents, with an average elevation of around 7500 ft. If all of this ice were melted, sea levels would rise about 200-210 ft. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 8 inches along the coast. In most of the interior of the continent, it goes down to 0.8 inches per year. The lowest temperature on Earth, -89.2°C, has been recorded at Vostok Station here. Mawson Station is the windiest place on the planet with an average wind speed of 37 kph and the strongest gust ever recorded at 248.4 kph. The average summer temperature at the South Pole is -27.5°C, while the average winter temperature is -60°C.

Fire ‘n’ Ice

Measuring 17,968 km, the Antartctic coastline is mostly characterised by spectacular ice formations. The continent consists of two main areas: East Antarctica, and the smaller West Antarctica, includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is conjectured that if the ice sheet was removed, West Antarctica would actually be a collection of islands.

The interior of the continent is drained by colossal glaciers or huge rivers of ice. An ice shelf is formed when an ice sheet or glacier flows down to a coastline and floats on the water. Ice shelves surround most of the Antarctic continent and the largest of these formations, the Ross Ice Shelf, is about the size of France. Gigantic tabular icebergs are formed at the coasts as the edges of the ice shelves and glaciers calve off into the sea. Antarctica are separated by the Transantarctic Mountains that stretch across the entire continent, and large portions of which are buried under the ice cover. With a total length of about 3,500 km, they are one of the longest mountain ranges on Earth. At some places, you will see a ‘nunatak’ — an exposed, often rocky part of a mountain, projecting through the surface of surrounding glacial ice. Interestingly, these nunataks can be home to birds such as snow petrels which build their nests here despite them being isolated outcrops of rock surrounded by endless sterile expanses of ice.

The highest peak in Antarctica is Vinson Massif (16,050 ft), which is located in the Ellsworth Mountains — the highest mountain chain on the continent. Antarctica has at least two active volcanoes: Mount Erebus (12,448 ft) is the highest and has a permanent molten lava lake. Located on Ross Island, it is the world’s southernmost active volcano. The other is on Deception Island, which is famous for a giant eruption in 1970. Situated just north of the Antarctic Peninsula, it is a popular spot for tourists where it is possible to have a warm bath in the volcanically warmed waters while being surrounded by ice and penguins.

Antarctica is home to more than 70 lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet. Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia’s Vostok Station in 1996, is the largest of these subglacial lakes.

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