Antarctica has long been seen as a remote, unchanging environment. Sea ice is shrinking rapidly, the floating glaciers known as ice shelves are melting faster, the ice sheets. A guide to antarctica including a map of antarctica and facts and information about antarctica and the antarctic circle.
Antarctica is generally described as having two parts, west antarctica and east antarctica. West antarctica lies directly south of the south american continent and includes the antarctic peninsula, which extends farther north than any other part of the continent. Though now almost fully covered by ice, antarctica once hosted lush forests and a plethora of wildlife—including dinosaurs.
It is almost completely covered in ice. Antarctica covers the earth’s south pole. Visit the definitions and notes page to view a description of each topic. Antarctica, the world’s southernmost continent, is almost wholly covered by an ice sheet and is about 5.5 million square miles (14.2 million square km) in size.
Situated almost entirely south of the antarctic circle and surrounded by the southern ocean (also known as the antarctic ocean), it contains the geographic south pole.