Antarctica is the fifth largest of the seven continents. It is situated over the South Pole almost entirely south of latitude 66°30' south (the Antarctic Circle). It is a very rough circular shape with the long arm of the Antarctic Peninsula stretching towards South America. There are two large indentations, the Ross and Weddell seas and their ice shelves.
The nearest other land masses are South America 600 mls / 1000 km away across the roughest stretch of water in the world - the Drake passage, Australia is 1550 mls / 2500 km away, and South Africa 2500 mls / 4000 km away.
The total surface area is about 14.2 million sq km (about 5.5 million sq mls) in summer, approximately twice the size of Australia, half as big again as the USA and fifty times the size of the UK. In the winter Antarctica doubles in size due to the sea ice that forms around the coasts. The true boundary of Antarctica is not the coastline of the continent itself or the outlying islands, but the Antarctic Convergence.
Return to FunTrivia
"Ask FunTrivia" strives to offer the best answers possible to trivia questions. We ask our submitters to thoroughly research questions and provide sources where possible. Feel free to post corrections or additions. This is server B184.