The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a

polar region The polar regions, also called the frigid zones or polar zones, of Earth are the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitudes are dominated by floa ...

around Earth's South Pole, opposite the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

region around the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magn ...

. The Antarctic comprises the continent of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, the Kerguelen Plateau and other island territories located on the

Antarctic Plate The Antarctic Plate is a tectonic plate containing the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau, and some remote islands in the Southern Ocean and other surrounding oceans. After breakup from Gondwana (the southern part of the superconti ...

or south of the

Antarctic Convergence The Antarctic Convergence or Antarctic Polar Front is a marine belt encircling Antarctica, varying in latitude seasonally, where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet the relatively warmer waters of the sub-Antarctic. Antarctic waters p ...

. The Antarctic region includes the ice shelves, waters, and all the island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the

, a zone approximately wide varying in latitude seasonally. The region covers some 20 percent of the Southern Hemisphere, of which 5.5 percent (14 million km²) is the surface area of the Antarctica continent itself. All of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude are administered under the

Antarctic Treaty System russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico , name = Antarctic Treaty System , image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder , image_width = 180px , caption ...

. Biogeographically, the

Antarctic realm The Antarctic realm is one of eight terrestrial biogeographic realms. The ecosystem includes Antarctica and several island groups in the southern Atlantic and Indian oceans. The continent of Antarctica is so cold that it has supported only 2 ...

is one of eight

biogeographic realm A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. D ...

s of Earth's land surface.

Geography

Orthographic projection centered on the Prince Edward Island

As defined by the

, the Antarctic region is everything south of the 60°S latitude. The Treaty area covers Antarctica and the archipelagos of the

Balleny Islands The Balleny Islands () are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated an ...

, Peter I Island,

Scott Island Scott Island is a small uninhabited island of volcanic origin in the Ross Sea, Southern Ocean, northeast of Cape Adare, the northeastern extremity of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is long north–south, and between and wide, reaching a ...

, the South Orkney Islands, and the South Shetland Islands. However, this area does not include the

, a transition zone where the cold waters of the Southern Ocean collide with the warmer waters of the north, forming a natural border to the region. Because the Convergence changes seasonally, the

Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, also known as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and CCAMLR, is part of the Antarctic Treaty System. The convention was opened for s ...

approximates the Convergence line by joining specified points along parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. The implementation of the convention is managed through an international commission headquartered in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smalle ...

, Australia, by an efficient system of annual fishing quotas, licenses and international inspectors on the fishing vessels, as well as satellite surveillance The islands situated between 60°S latitude parallel to the south and the

to the north, and their respective exclusive economic zones fall under the national jurisdiction of the countries that possess them:

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

(United Kingdom),

Bouvet Island Bouvet Island ( ; or ''Bouvetøyen'') is an island claimed by Norway, and declared an uninhabited protected nature reserve. It is a subantarctic volcanic island, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean at the southern end of the Mid-Atlantic R ...

(Norway), and Heard and McDonald Islands (Australia).

Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, a lar ...

(France; also an EU Overseas territory) are situated in the Antarctic Convergence area, while the

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (English: ''Big Island of the Land of Fire'') also formerly ''Isla de Xátiva''Falkland Islands, Isla de los Estados,

Hornos Island Hornos Island ( es, Isla Hornos) is a Chilean island at the southern tip of South America. The island is mostly known for being the location of Cape Horn. It is generally considered South America's southernmost island, but the Diego Ramírez Isla ...

with

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramír ...

Diego Ramírez Islands The Diego Ramírez Islands ( es, Islas Diego Ramírez) are a small group of subantarctic islands located in the southernmost extreme of Chile. History The islands were first sighted on 12 February 1619 by the Spanish Garcia de Nodal expedition, ...

, Campbell Island,

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 19 ...

, Amsterdam and

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Islands,

Crozet Islands The Crozet Islands (french: Îles Crozet; or, officially, ''Archipel Crozet'') are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarct ...

Prince Edward Islands The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited islands in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of South Africa. The islands are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and Prince Edward Islan ...

, and Gough Island and Tristan da Cunha group remain north of the Convergence and thus outside the Antarctic region.

Ecology

Antarctica

A variety of animals live in Antarctica for at least some of the year, including: *

Seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

Penguins Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

South Georgia pipit The South Georgia pipit (''Anthus antarcticus'') is a sparrow-sized bird only found on the South Georgia archipelago off the Antarctic Peninsula. It is the only songbird in Antarctica, South Georgia's only passerine, and one of the few non-seabir ...

s *

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pac ...

es *

Antarctic petrel The Antarctic petrel (''Thalassoica antarctica'') is a boldly marked dark brown and white petrel, found in Antarctica, most commonly in the Ross and Weddell Seas. They eat Antarctic krill, fish, and small squid. They feed while swimming but can d ...

s * Whales * Fish, such as

Antarctic icefish Notothenioidei is one of 19 suborders of the order Perciformes. The group is found mainly in Antarctic and Subantarctic waters, with some species ranging north to southern Australia and southern South America. Notothenioids constitute approxi ...

Antarctic toothfish The Antarctic toothfish (''Dissostichus mawsoni'') is a large, black or brown fish found in very cold (subzero) waters of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. It is the largest fish in the Southern Ocean, feeding on shrimp and smaller fish, and pr ...

* Squid, including the

colossal squid The colossal squid (''Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni'') is part of the family Cranchiidae. It is sometimes called the Antarctic squid or giant cranch squid and is believed to be the largest squid species in terms of mass. It is the only recognize ...

Antarctic krill Antarctic krill (''Euphausia superba'') is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 ind ...

Most of the Antarctica continent is permanently covered by ice and snow, leaving less than 1 percent of the land exposed. There are only two species of flowering plant,

Antarctic hair grass ''Deschampsia antarctica'', the Antarctic hair grass, is one of two flowering plants native to Antarctica, the other being ''Colobanthus quitensis'' (Antarctic pearlwort). They mainly occur on the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Island ...

and

Antarctic pearlwort ''Colobanthus quitensis'', the Antarctic pearlwort, is one of two native flowering plants found in the Antarctic region. It has yellow flowers and grows about 5 cm (two inches) tall, with a cushion-like growth habit that gives it a moss-like appe ...

, but a range of mosses,

liverwort The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ge ...

s, lichens and macrofungi.

Sub-Antarctic Islands

Biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') le ...

among terrestrial flora and fauna is low on the islands: studies have theorized that the harsh climate was a major contributor towards species richness, but multiple correlations have been found with area, temperature, remoteness of islands, and food chain stability. For example, herbivorous insects are poor in number due to low plant richness, and likewise, indigenous bird numbers are related to insects, which are a major food source. * Isla de los Estados (

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

) *

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (English: ''Big Island of the Land of Fire'') also formerly ''Isla de Xátiva''Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

)

Conservation

The Antarctic hosts the world's largest

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

comprising 1.07 million km², the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protection Area created in 2012. The latter exceeds the surface area of another vast protected territory, the Greenland National Park’s . (While the Ross Sea Marine Protection Area established in 2016 is still larger at 1.55 million km², its protection is set to expire in 35 years.) To protect the area, all Antarctic ships over 500 tonnes are subject to mandatory regulations under the

Polar Code The International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters or Polar Code is an international regime adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2014. The Code sets out regulations for shipping in the polar regions, principally relati ...

, adopted by the

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...

(in force since 1 January 2017).

Society

People

The first recorded sighting of Antarctica is credited to the Spaniard Gabriel de Castilla, who reported seeing distant southern snow-capped mountains in 1603. The first Antarctic land discovered was the island of

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

, visited by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

merchant

Anthony de la Roché Anthony de la Roché (spelled also ''Antoine de la Roché'', ''Antonio de la Roché'' or ''Antonio de la Roca'' in some sources) was a 17th-century English merchant born in London to a French Huguenot father and an English mother. During a c ...

in 1675. Although myths and speculation about a ''

Terra Australis (Latin: '"Southern Land'") was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that ...

'' ("Southern Land") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent of

is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen (russian: Фадде́й Фадде́евич Беллинсга́узен, translit=Faddéy Faddéevich Bellinsgáuzen; – ) was a Russian naval officer, cartographer and explorer, who ultimatel ...

and

Mikhail Lazarev Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (russian: Михаил Петрович Лазарев, 3 November 1788 – 11 April 1851) was a Russian fleet commander and an explorer. Education and early career Lazarev was born in Vladimir, a scion of ...

on '' Vostok'' and '' Mirny''. The Australian

James Kerguelen Robinson James Kerguelen Robinson (11 March 1859 – 1914) was an Australian prospector who was the first person born south of the Antarctic Convergence. Robinson Pass was named after him. Life Robinson was born in March 1859 on the Kerguelen Islands t ...

(1859–1914) was the first human born in the Antarctic, on board the sealing ship ''Offley'' in the

Gulf of Morbihan The Gulf of Morbihan is a natural harbour on the coast of the department of Morbihan in southern Brittany, France. Its English name is taken from the French version, ''le golfe du Morbihan'', though it would be more precisely called 'the M ...

(Royal Sound then), Kerguelen Island on 11 March 1859. The first human born on an Antarctic island was

Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen (8 October 1913 – 25 October 1996)Gravminner i Norge.
D ...

born on 8 October 1913 in

Grytviken Grytviken ( ) is a settlement on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly a whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, considered the best ...

, South Georgia. Emilio Marcos Palma (born 7 January 1978) is an Argentine man who was the first documented person born on the continent of Antarctica at the Esperanza Base. His father, Captain Jorge Palma, was head of the Argentine Army detachment at the base. While ten people have been born in Antarctica since, Palma's birthplace remains the southernmost. In late 1977, Silvia Morella de Palma, who was then seven months pregnant, was airlifted to Esperanza Base, in order to complete her pregnancy in the base. The airlift was a part of the Argentine solutions to the sovereignty dispute over territory in Antarctica. Emilio was automatically granted Argentine citizenship by the government since his parents were both Argentine citizens, and he was born in the claimed

Argentine Antarctica Argentine Antarctica ( es, Antártida Argentina or Sector Antártico Argentino) is an area of Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory. It consists of the Antarctic Peninsula and a triangular section extending to the ...

. Palma can be considered to be the first native Antarctican. The Antarctic region had no

indigenous population Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

when first discovered, and its present inhabitants comprise a few thousand transient

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence f ...

and other personnel working on tours of duty at the several dozen

research stations Research stations are facilities where scientific investigation, collection, analysis and experimentation occurs. A research station is a facility that is built for the purpose of conducting scientific research. There are also many types of resea ...

maintained by various countries. However, the region is visited by more than 40,000 tourists annually, the most popular destinations being the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

area (especially the South Shetland Islands) and

South Georgia Island South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

. In December 2009, the growth of tourism, with consequences for both the ecology and the safety of the travellers in its great and remote wilderness, was noted at a conference in New Zealand by experts from signatories to the

Antarctic Treaty The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms ...

. The definitive results of the conference were presented at the Antarctic Treaty states' meeting in Uruguay in May 2010.

Time zones

Because Antarctica surrounds the South Pole, it is theoretically located in all time zones. For practical purposes, time zones are usually based on territorial claims or the time zone of a station's owner country or supply base.

List of offshore islands

North of 60°S latitude

South of 60°S latitude

Notes

References

External links

British Services Antarctic Expedition 2012

Committee for Environmental Protection of Antarctica

Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty

CCAMLR Commission

Antarctic Heritage Trusts

International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators

Map of the Antarctic Convergence

The South Atlantic and Subantarctic Islands

Ushuaia is the most popular gateway to Antarctica
{{Authority control Geography of Antarctica