Page 111 - Super Earth Encyclopedia

STATS AND FACTS ICY OCEAN

Every winter the sea around Antarctica
TEMPERATURE The average temperature in freezes over. It forms a vast tract of floating
With temperatures Antarctica is -57.1°F (-49.5°C).
that would freeze °C -60 -45 -30 -15 0 sea ice that covers an area bigger than the
your skin within continent itself. Most of it is drifting pack
seconds, Antarctica is °F -76 -49 -22 5 32 ice driven by the ocean currents, but
the coldest place on forming an almost continuous sheet.
Earth and as a result, ICE SHEET SOUTH POLE
the least explored.
It is also the highest, About 98 percent At the center
driest, and windiest of Antarctica is of Antarctica
covered by ice.
is the South Pole—
of the continents. • the southernmost
point of Earth.

The Transantarctic Mountains
stretch right across Antarctica.
They form one of the longest
mountain ranges on Earth. Near the heart of the frozen
continent, the East Antarctic Ice Owing to the thickness of
Sheet is 3 miles (4.8 km) thick. the ice sheets, the average
altitude of Antarctica is more WINTER ICE EXTENT
than 13,120 ft (4,000 m) The winter sea ice around Antarctica covers up
above sea level. to 7 million sq miles (18 million sq km) of ocean.
It reaches its maximum extent in September,
at the end of Southern Hemisphere winter.

SUMMER ICE EXTENT
In spring, the sea ice starts melting, and by late
February, it covers just 1.2 million sq miles (3 million
sq km). Most of this summer ice is swept clockwise
around the Weddell Sea by wind-driven currents.

The lowest areas of the
continental bedrock have
been pushed below sea level
due to the weight of the ice.

FROZEN WORLD

WORLD’S LARGEST

ICE SHEET
East Antarctica is higher
and colder than the western
side of the continent.

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