The massive Antarctic Ice Sheet reflects a large amount of solar radiation away from Earth’s surface. Ice is more reflective than land or water surfaces. Antarctica has a larger role than most continents in maintaining Earth’s heat balance. The heat balance, also called the energy balance, is the relationship between the amount of solar heat absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere and the amount of heat reflected back into space. It is an integral part of the Earth’s heat balance. The Antarctic region has an important role in global climate processes. The Antarctic desert is one of the driest deserts in the world. Antarctica’s interior is believed to receive only 50 to 100 millimeters (2-4 inches) of water (in the form of snow) every year. Precipitation in the Antarctic is hard to measure. An even lower temperature was measured using satellite data taken in 2010: -93.2☌ (-135.8☏) In 1983, Russia’s Vostok Research Station measured the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth: -89.2☌ (-128.6☏). In the mountainous, interior regions, temperatures are much colder, dropping below -60☌ (-76☏) in winter and -20☌ (-4☏) in summer. During the summer, coastal areas hover around 0☌ (32☏) but can reach temperatures as high as 9☌ (48☏). Winter temperatures along Antarctica’s coast generally range from -10° Celsius to -30° Celsius (14° Fahrenheit to -22° Fahrenheit). Climate Antarctica has an extremely cold, dry climate. The waters surrounding Antarctica are relatively deep, reaching 4,000 to 5,000 meters (13,123 to 16,404 feet) in depth.

The oceans surrounding Antarctica provide an important physical component of the Antarctic region. They are also home to a number of high mountains. The majority of the islands and archipelagos of Lesser Antarctica are volcanic and heavily glaciated. Mount Erebus, located on Antarctica’s Ross Island, is the southernmost active volcano on Earth. Tectonic activity is the interaction of plates on Earth’s crust, often resulting in earthquakes and volcanoes. Lesser Antarctica, in fact, is part of the “ Ring of Fire,” a tectonically active area around the Pacific Ocean. Lesser Antarctica, or West Antarctica, is made up of younger, volcanic and sedimentary rock. Greater Antarctica, or East Antarctica, is composed of older, igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Without any ice, Antarctica would emerge as a giant peninsula and archipelago of mountainous islands, known as Lesser Antarctica, and a single large landmass about the size of Australia, known as Greater Antarctica. The elevation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet itself is about 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) and reaches 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) above sea level near the center of the continent. A few of these summits reach altitudes of more than 4,500 meters (14,764 feet). Antarctica has a number of mountain summits, including the Transantarctic Mountains, which divide the continent into eastern and western regions. Glacial ice moves from the continent’s interior to these lower- elevation ice shelves at rates of 10 to 1,000 meters (33-32,808 feet) per year. Ice shelves are floating sheets of ice that are connected to the continent.

Ice sheet growth mainly occurs at the coastal ice shelves, primarily the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ronne Ice Shelf. The ice surface dramatically grows in size from about 3 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) at the end of summer to about 19 million square kilometers (7.3 million square miles) by winter. This ice sheet even extends beyond the continent when snow and ice are at their most extreme. It is the largest single piece of ice on Earth. Physical Geography Physical Features The Antarctic Ice Sheet dominates the region. The islands of the Antarctic region are: South Orkney Islands, South Shetland Islands, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands, all claimed by the United Kingdom Peter I Island and Bouvet Island, claimed by Norway Heard and McDonald islands, claimed by Australia and Scott Island and the Balleny Islands, claimed by New Zealand. The Antarctic also includes island territories within the Antarctic Convergence. There are no countries in Antarctica, although seven nations claim different parts of it: New Zealand, Australia, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Chile, and Argentina. (It is larger than both Oceania and Europe.) Antarctica is a unique continent in that it does not have a native population. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent in terms of total area. The Antarctic covers approximately 20 percent of the Southern Hemisphere. The Antarctic Convergence is an uneven line of latitude where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet the warmer waters of the world’s oceans. The Antarctic is a cold, remote area in the Southern Hemisphere encompassed by the Antarctic Convergence. The continent of Antarctica makes up most of the Antarctic region.

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