Did You Know These Facts About Antarctica?!

When we look at a world map, the white-covered continent of Antarctica is likely to attract everyone’s attention. This part of the world differs greatly from other continents because of its climate and natural features.

If you set foot in Antarctica, you may have to forget the usual concept of time. All meridians meet there, meaning the continent can be associated with all time zones at once.

You can also observe polar days, when the Sun remains above the horizon for 24 hours, as well as polar nights spent in complete darkness.

One of the continent’s major mountain systems is the Gamburtsev Mountains, stretching for about 1,300 kilometers. In some places, they are up to 500 kilometers wide and remain hidden beneath an ice layer ranging from 600 meters to 4 kilometers thick.

One of the clearest seas on Earth is remarkable for its transparency. Because of the clarity of the water, fish and other marine creatures can reportedly be seen at depths of up to 76 meters.

Surprising as it may sound, Antarctica is the world’s largest and driest desert. It receives an average of only about 18 mm of precipitation per year. By comparison, desert regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan receive 40–300 mm annually, South and North Africa around 25–500 mm, and Australia about 100–250 mm.

Around 140 lakes of various sizes have been discovered on the continent. The best known is Lake Vostok, located beneath about 4 kilometers of ice, with its water temperature stated to be around -10 °C.

In some parts of Antarctica, natural depressions resembling those found in equatorial deserts can be observed. The continent also contains a massive asteroid crater measuring about 482 kilometers in diameter. According to scientists’ estimates, the asteroid may have struck Earth more than 250 million years ago.

Although Antarctica has no permanent population, it has been assigned the international telephone code “672” and the “.aq” internet domain.