Physical characteristics of the Antarctic

Antarctica comprises the area of the Earth south of 60° S and includes the icecovered continent, isolated islands and a large part of the Southern Ocean. The continent itself makes up about 10% of the land surface of the Earth with the combined area of the ice sheets and ice shelves being about 14×106 km2. It lies entirely within the Antarctic Circle, except for the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula and the region south of the Indian Ocean (see the map on the end pages). However, the Pole of Relative Inaccessibility, which is the location furthest away on average from the coast in all directions, is close to 81° S, 58° W, some 900 km from the South Pole. This displacement of the highest plateau away from the geographic pole undoubtedly has an effect on the general circulation of the atmosphere and will be discussed in later chapters of the book.

In the eastern hemisphere, where the coastline follows the 62° S line of latitude for a considerable distance, the continent has a circular, symmetric form. The only major indentation in this part of the coast is Prydz Bay containing the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system which is located near 70° E. However, in the western hemisphere, the coastline is much more sinuous and is dominated by the northward extension of the Antarctic Peninsula and the two great embayments containing the Ross and Weddell Seas.

The Antarctic ice sheet consists of three distinct morphological zones – East (or Greater) Antarctica, West (or Lesser) Antarctic and the Antarctic Peninsula (see the map on the end pages).