Extreme points of Antarctica

Categories: Geography of Antarctica

• Tallest Mountain in Antarctica is Vinson Massif. Height: 4,897 metres (16,066 feet)

• The lowest point in Antarctica is within the Bentley Subglacial Trench, which reaches 2,555 meters below sea level. This is also the lowest place on earth not covered by ocean.

• The farthest point of land from any coastline on the Antarctic Continent is located at 85°50′ S 65°47′ E. This is also known as the South Pole of inaccessibility.

• The highest non-cyclonic winds ever recorded on the Continent (and the world) is at Commonwealth Bay which lies at 66°54′ S 142°40′ E which is about 48 km (30 mi) wide located at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in the Australian Antarctic Territory. Winds regularly exceed 200 kilometres per hour here. The fastest wind ever recorded was in the base Belgrano II at 351 km/h

• Antarctica is the Southernmost land mass on Earth. The Geographical South Pole lies on the Polar Plateau at 90°00′ S 00°00′ W. It is here that the southernmost human habitation on Earth is located: Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (U.S. Administered Base).

• Highest temperature so far recorded in Antarctica: 14.6°C (58.3°F) at Vanda Station (New Zealand administered station) on 5 January 1974

• Lowest temperature so far recorded in Antarctica: -89.2°C (-128.6°F) at Vostok (Russian administered station) on 21 July 1983

• Vostok is the most isolated research base on the continent (located at 77° S 105° E), and it is situated over the southernmost lake in the world, Lake Vostok, a subglacial lake 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) under the surface of the ice where the station sits.

• Antarctica has the world's lowest rainfall average (Zero at the Geographic South Pole) and thus is the world's dryest continent.

• Despite its zero rainfall, Antarctica has approximately 90% of the world's fresh water (as ice).

• The southernmost volcano on the planet - Mount Erebus - is in Antarctica on the world's southernmost island: Ross Island.

• The Ross Sea is the southernmost sea in the world, with its southernmost extremity (Gould Coast) at the foot of the Horlick Mountains approximately 200 miles from the Geographic South Pole.

• The northernmost extremity of Antarctica is Hope Bay, at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula at 63°23′ S 57°00′ W. The Antarctic Peninsula is the only part of the continent that lies north of the Antarctic Circle and thus has most of the continent's research bases. The northern promintory of Hope Bay - Prime Head - is 670 mi (1,078 km) from Cape Horn. The northernmost research base inland is Esperanza Base

• While animal life such as penguins and sea lions are found all around the Antarctic coastline, the continent's only flowering plants are found on the northern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula.