Foto: The ice walls of Antarctica (bron: Ronald van der Veer)
Antarctica - Antarctica is the continent surrounding the South Pole of the Earth. Its name derives from the Arctic, the North Polar Region, with the prefix anti- (meaning “opposite”). In terms of area, it is the fifth-largest continent—after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America, and ahead of Europe and Australia. Antarctica is surrounded by the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans (according to the older ocean classification). All sea areas south of the 60th parallel are now designated as the Southern Ocean (or Antarctic Ocean). The land and surrounding waters of Antarctica are collectively referred to as the Antarctic. Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. The lowest officially recorded temperature on the planet was at the Vostok Station, about 1,000 kilometers from the South Pole: -89.2 °C (unofficially -91 °C), and the continent is almost entirely covered by ice. Antarctica also has the lowest average humidity of all continents. Of all the ice in the world, 90% lies in Antarctica. The average thickness of the ice sheet is 2,200 meters, with the thickest point measuring 4,776 meters. Most of this ice is over a hundred thousand years old, though not all of Antarctica has been under ice for that entire period.
