The South Pole, the southernmost point of the earth, is located on the continent of Antarctica. Few humans go there, it also has no permanent residents and there is no record of any group ever inhabiting it, you can travel to there on a tour-guided expedition. The South Pole is a place like no other, with many interesting facts waiting to be discovered.
The South Pole only has two seasons: winter and summer. Each season lasts six months of the year. During winter at the South Pole, the sun never rises. During summer, the sun never rises and never sets. In fact, it simply orbits around the horizon in a straight line with relatively no change in distance from the earth. On 105th Anniversary of first Expedition to Reach the South Pole we are sharing some amazing, cool & fun facts of South Pole of Antarctica.
1. The first confirmed sighting of the continent was in 1820.
2. The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911.
3. Because Antarctica lies in the southern hemisphere, seasons there are the opposite of seasons in the north — summer runs from October to February and winter covers the remainder of the year.
4. Antarctica is the driest, coldest, highest and windiest continent on Earth.
5. The lowest & coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Russia’s Vostok Station in Antarctica: -89.2°C (-128.6°F) on 21st July, 1983.
6. Antarctica is the driest continent; it is almost entirely desert. Very little snow or rain falls on the continent, Some regions of Antarctica have had no snow or rain in the past two million years.
7. The ice can be more than 4 km thick in some places. This ice flows off the continent and creates floating ice shelves over the ocean; these shelves break up and create icebergs. If Antarctica’s ice sheets melted, the world’s oceans would rise by 60-65 meters.
8. 70% of Earth’s fresh water 90% of the ice on Earth is found in Antarctica.
9. There are no countries in Antarctica; the continent is governed by an international treaty (the Antarctic Treaty).
10. Antarctica has no permanent residents. The only persons who live there are the visiting scientists. During summer, the number reaches about 5,000.In winter, it decreases to 1,000.
11. Snow falling at the South Pole takes approximately years to ‘flow’ to the Antarctica coast before it drops off the end as a portion of an iceberg.
12. Antarctica is the only continent with no reptiles.
13. There is a waterfall in Antarctica which runs red as blood!
14. If the ice sheets of Antarctica melt, the world’s oceans would rise by 60-65 meters (200-210 feet).
15. The southernmost active volcano is located in Antarctica. It is very near to the United States Research Center. It spews crystals.
16. Chile has a civilian town in Antarctica, complete various social amenities like hospital, schools, post office, hotel, TV, Internet and mobile coverage.
17. Antarctica is the only continent that have no time zone.
18. There are 300 lakes under the Antarctica which are protected from freezing by the warmth of Earth’s core.
Antarctica has only 1 ATM.
19. There are at least 7 Christian churches in Antarctica.
20. Antarctica grows bigger in the winter. How and why? Its sea ice expands approximately 40,000 miles every day, adding up to an extra twelve 12 million square miles of ice around the land mass (an equivalent of 1 ½ United States). As a result, it doubles the continent’s size. In summer, the new ice breaks up and melts.