Antarctica Land of the Penguins

Antarctica Land of the Penguines

What is Antarctica? Antarctica is that magical land at the far south of the world. It's so wild and beautiful that it's hard to describe what it feels like to be there.

It is the coldest windiest place on Earth, with temperatures as low as -89°C （-129°F）. The Southern Ocean that surrounds it has larger waves and stronger winds than anywhere else on Earth. It seems hard to believe that anything could live in such a place. However, one kind of bird survives there in large numbers-the penguin.

Antarctica is made up of the Antarctic mainland and the islands around it. The mainland is a huge rocky land covered with snow and ice. It was the last place on Earth to be explored and no humans make it their home. How the Arctic and the Antarctic are different The Arctic , includes the North Pole, no land, only ice floating on water, Polar bears and seals live there, but no penguins. The Antarctic, includes the South Pole , a land covered in ice, Penguins and seals live there, but no polar bears.

The Antarctic mainland is enormous. It is 58 times larger than the United Kingdom. In winter it doubles in size, as the sea around it freezes. Most creatures can't survive inland during the winter. Some live on the coasts which are warmer but most move further north to escape the extreme cold. The Emperor penguin is one of the few creatures which can cope during these dark and freezing months.

A land of snow If you dug down 100 metres into the snow, you would find snow that fell a thousand years ago. This snow has been pressed down and changed into ice. Over thousands of years, the ice has built up into sheets that are over three kilometres thick. Some of this ice is half a million years old. Buried far beneath the snow and ice, there is land. 70% of the worlds fresh water is trapped as Antarctic ice. In places, mountains poke through the ice.