below freezing

Terrain: about 98% thick continental ice sheet and 2% barren rock,
with average elevations between 2,000 and 4,000 meters; mountain
ranges up to 5,140 meters; ice-free coastal areas include parts of
southern Victoria Land, Wilkes Land, the Antarctic Peninsula area, and
parts of Ross Island on McMurdo Sound; glaciers form ice shelves along
about half of the coastline, and floating ice shelves constitute 11%
of the area of the continent

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Southern Ocean 0 m
highest point: Vinson Massif 5,140 m

Natural resources: none presently exploited; iron ore, chromium,
copper, gold, nickel, platinum and other minerals, and coal and
hydrocarbons have been found in small, uncommercial quantities

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 100% (ice 98%, barren rock 2%)

Irrigated land: 0 sq km (1993)

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

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

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

@Antarctica:People

Population: no indigenous inhabitants, but there are seasonally
staffed research stations
note: approximately 29 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