lves constitute 11% of the area
of the continent

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,555 m
highest point: Vinson Massif 4,897 m note: the lowest known land point
in Antarctica is hidden in the Bentley Subglacial Trench; at its surface
is the deepest ice yet discovered and the world's lowest elevation not
under seawater

Natural resources: iron ore, chromium, copper, gold, nickel, platinum
and other minerals, and coal and hydrocarbons have been found in small
uncommercial quantities; none presently exploited; krill, finfish,
and crab have been taken by commercial fisheries

Land use: arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (ice 98%,
barren rock 2%) (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 0 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: katabatic (gravity-driven) winds blow coastward from
the high interior; frequent blizzards form near the foot of the plateau;
cyclonic storms form over the ocean and move clockwise along the coast;
volcanism on Deception Island and isolated areas of West Antarctica; other
seismic activity rare and weak; large icebergs may calve from ice shelf

Environment - current issues: in 1998, NASA satellite data showed
that the antarctic ozone hole was the largest on record, covering 27
million square kilometers; researchers in 1997 found that increased
ultraviolet light coming through the hole damages the DNA of icefish,
an antarctic fish lacking hemoglobin; ozone depletion earlier was shown
to harm one-celled antarctic marine plants; in 2002, significant areas
of ice shelves disintegrated in response to regional warming

Geography - note: the coldest, windiest, highest (on average), and driest
continent; during summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at
the South Pole than is received at the Equator in an equivalent period;
mostly uninhabitable

People Antarctica

Population: no indigenous inhabitants, but there are seasonally staffed
research stations note: approximately 27 nations, all signatory to
the Antarctic Treaty, send personnel to perform seasonal (summer) and
year-round research on the continent and in its surrounding oceans; the
population of persons doing and supporting science on the continent and
its nearby islands south of 60 degrees south latitude (the region covered
by the Antarctic Treaty) varies from approximately 4,000 in summer to
1,000 in winter; in addition, approximately 1,000 personnel including
ship's crew and scientists doing onbo