·        The name Antarctica means “opposite to the Arctic”. The Arctic is the Earth’s northernmost region; Antarctica is Earth’s southernmost region.

·        Antarctica was the last continent to be discovered.  It surrounds the South Pole, and is almost completely covered with thick ice sheets. Under the ice lies a big continent with mountains, valleys and islands. Antarctica lies about 1000 km (600 miles) from South America, its nearest neighbor.

·        If you stood on the South Pole, whichever way you walked you would be going north.

·        Antarctica is the coldest and windiest of the Earth’s seven continents. Once an air temperature of –89.2 Celsius was recorded near the South Pole.

·        It does not always snow in the Antarctic. The air over the continent is cold and dry, and only about 50mm of snow falls in a year.

·        No one lives there permanently. Scientists, who come to study the area, live in research stations for months at a time. Besides tiny mite, mosses, some flowering plants and microbes almost no life exists on Antarctica. The continent’s most famous animals are seals, whales and seabirds.

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