Extreme points of Antarctica
Encyclopedia
- The tallest mountainMountainImage:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in Antarctica is Mount Vinson rising 4,892 metres (16,050 feet) above sea level. - The lowest point in Antarctica is within the Bentley Subglacial TrenchBentley Subglacial TrenchThe Bentley Subglacial Trench is a vast topographic trench in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, 80°S, 115°W. At 2,555 meters below sea level, it is the lowest point on the surface of the earth not covered by ocean, although it is covered by ice. Most people do not count it as the lowest point on...
, which reaches 2,555 metres below sea level. This is also the lowest place on earth not covered by ocean (although it is covered by ice). - The lowest accessible point in Antarctica is the shore of Deep Lake, Vestfold HillsVestfold HillsVestfold Hills is an area of rounded rock coastal hills, in extent, located at the north side of Sorsdal Glacier on Ingrid Christensen Coast in Antarctica. The hills are subdivided by three west-trending peninsulas bounded by narrow fjords...
, which is 50 m beneath sea level. - The point on land farthest from any coastline on the Antarctic Continent is located at 83°06′S 54°58′E. This is also known as the South Pole of inaccessibilityPole of inaccessibilityA pole of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach owing to its remoteness from geographical features that could provide access...
. - The highest non-cyclonicCycloneIn meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...
winds ever recorded on the Continent was at Commonwealth BayCommonwealth BayCommonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay...
(66°54′S 142°40′E), which is about 48 km (30 mi) wide and located at the entrance between Point AldenPoint AldenPoint Alden in Antarctica is an ice-covered point with rock exposures along the seaward side. The point marks the western side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay and the division between Adélie Coast and George V Coast in Antarctica. The point was discovered on January 30, 1840 by the USEE under...
and Cape GrayCape GrayCape Gray is a rocky cape which forms the east side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay, part of the George V Coast of Antarctica. The cape is actually a small rocky island which is joined to the icecap of the mainland by an ice ramp...
in the Australian Antarctic TerritoryAustralian Antarctic TerritoryThe Australian Antarctic Territory is a part of Antarctica. It was claimed by the United Kingdom and placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933. It is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation...
. Winds regularly exceed 200 km per hour here. The fastest wind ever recorded was in the base Belgrano II at 351 km/h (218 mph). - Antarctica is the Southernmost land massLand massLand mass refers to the total area of a country or geographical region . The Earth's total land mass is which is about 29.2% of its total surface. Water covers approximately 70.8% of the Earth's surface, mostly in the form of oceans....
on EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. The Geographical South PoleSouth PoleThe South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
lies on the Polar Plateau at 90°00′S 00°00′W. It is here that the southernmost human habitation on Earth is located: Amundsen-Scott South Pole StationAmundsen-Scott South Pole StationThe Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is the American scientific research station on the high plateau of Antarctica. This station is located at the southernmost place on the Earth, the Geographic South Pole, at an elevation of 2,835 meters above sea level.The original Amundsen-Scott Station was...
(U.S. Administered Base). - Highest temperature so far recorded in Antarctica: 14.6°C (58.3°F) at Vanda StationVanda StationVanda Station was an Antarctic research base in the western highlands of the Ross Dependency, specifically on the shore of Lake Vanda, at the mouth of Onyx River, in the Wright Valley...
(New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
administered station) on 5 January 1974. - Lowest temperature so far recorded in Antarctica: -89.2°C (-128.6°F) at Vostok (RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n administered station) on 21 July 1983. - Vostok is the most isolated research base on the continent (located at 77°S 105°E), and it is situated over the southernmost lake in the world, Lake VostokLake VostokLake Vostok is the largest of more than 140 subglacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. The overlying ice provides a continuous paleoclimatic record of 400,000 years, although the lake water itself may have been isolated for 15 to 25 million years. The lake is named after the...
, a subglacial lake 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) under the surface of the ice where the station sits. - Antarctica has the world's lowest rainfall average (zero at the Geographic South Pole) and thus is the world's driest continent.
- Despite its low rainfall average, Antarctica has approximately 70% of the world's fresh water (as 90% of the world's ice).
- The southernmost volcanoVolcano2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
on the planet - Mount ErebusMount ErebusMount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost historically active volcano on Earth, the second highest volcano in Antarctica , and the 6th highest ultra mountain on an island. With a summit elevation of , it is located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes, notably Mount...
- is in Antarctica on the world's southernmost island reachable from the sea: Ross IslandRoss IslandRoss Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound.-Geography:...
. - The southernmost island is Berkner IslandBerkner IslandBerkner Island or Berkner Ice Rise or Hubley Island is a high and completely ice-covered large island about long and wide in Antarctica, with an area of . It is the second largest island of both Antarctica and the British Antarctic Territory, after Alexander Island. It is also located within the...
, which is embedded in ice shelfIce shelfAn ice shelf is a thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica, Greenland and Canada. The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded ice that feeds it is called...
. - The Ross SeaRoss SeaThe Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...
is the southernmost sea in the world, with its southernmost extremity (Gould CoastGould CoastThe Gould Coast is that portion of the coast along the east margin of the Ross Ice Shelf between the west side of Scott Glacier and the south end of Siple Coast . Named by NZ-APC in 1961 for Laurence M. Gould, a geologist who was second-in-command of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1928-30. Gould...
) at the foot of the Horlick MountainsHorlick MountainsThe Horlick Mountains are a mountain range in the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica, lying eastward of Reedy Glacier and including the Wisconsin Range, Long Hills and Ohio Range....
approximately 200 miles (320 km) from the Geographic South Pole. However, this area is covered by the Ross Ice ShelfRoss Ice ShelfThe Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
. The southernmost open sea is also part of Ross Sea, namely Bay of WhalesBay of WhalesThe Bay of Whales is a natural ice harbor, or iceport, indenting the front of Ross Ice Shelf just north of Roosevelt Island. It is the southernmost point of open ocean not only of the Ross Sea, but worldwide...
at 78°30'S, at the edge of Ross Ice Shelf. - The northernmost extremity of the Antarctic mainland (without nearshore islands) is Prime HeadPrime HeadPrime Head is a prominent snow-covered headland which forms the Northern extremity of Antarctic Peninsula. The name Siffrey was given to a cape in this vicinity by the French Antarctic Expedition under Capt. Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1837-40, and was previously approved for the feature here described...
, at the northern tip of the Antarctic PeninsulaAntarctic PeninsulaThe Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....
at 63°12′48"S 57°18′08"W. The Antarctic Peninsula is the largest contiguous part of the continent projecting north of the Antarctic CircleAntarctic CircleThe Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs south of the Equator.-Description:...
and thus has many of the continent's research bases. Prime Head is 609 mi (980 km) from Cape HornCape HornCape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
. The northernmost research base on the mainland is Esperanza BaseEsperanza Base-References:*Antarctica. Sydney: Reader's Digest, 1985, p. 156-157.*Child, Jack. Antarctica and South American Geopolitics: Frozen Lebensraum. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1988, p. 73....
. - While animal life such as penguins and sealsPinnipedPinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
are found all around the Antarctic coastline, the continent's only flowering plants are found on the northern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula (see Antarctic floraAntarctic floraThe Antarctic flora is a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of Gondwana, and is now found on several separate areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern South America, southernmost Africa, New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia...
).