Antarctica is fifth in size among the world's continents. Lying almost concentrically around the South Pole, its landmass is almost wholly covered by a vast ice sheet. It covers about 5.5 million square miles (14.2 million square kilometres), and would be essentially circular except for the outflaring Antarctic Peninsula, which reaches toward the southern tip of South America (some 600 miles [970 kilometres] away). Antarctica is divided in two parts (East and West Antarctica) by the 1,900-mile-long Transantartic Mountains.

   The continental ice sheet contains approximately 7 million cubic miles (30 million cubic kilometres) of ice, representing about 90 percent of the world's total. The average thickness is about 6,500 feet (2,000 metres). Climate is icy and the lowest registered temperature has been -97,2° Celsius. From 1959, international agreement, the Antarctic Treaty, signed by 12 nations, preserver the continent for nonmilitary scientific pursuit.

General data:

Area: 14.107.637 Km˛
Highest Mountain: Vinson Massif 5140 m

Photos (Livingstone Island)