The South Pole is located in Antarctica, which is inhabitable to live by humans. The highest recorded temperate in the South Pole was at 9.9 degrees Fahrenheit, or -12..3 degrees Celsius. It is said that the South Pole is one of the coldest places that is located on Earth. The coldest recorded temperature that was ever recorded was -117 degrees Fahrenheit, or -82.8 degrees Celsius. If you are ever planning to take a trip down to the South Pole, make sure to bring a lot of jackets, warm clothes and blankets.
1. Sunrise and Sunset
The South Pole will only see one sunrise and one sunset during the whole year. In September, the South Pole will experience a sunrise and in March, the South Pole will experience a sunset. In the summer months, there will be 24 hours worth of sunlight and in the winter months it will be 24 hours of darkness. This happens because the Earth is tilted on its axis, so both of the poles experiences extreme sunlight during the summer months.
2. Antarctica is inhabitable by humans
In Antarctica, it can get pretty cold during the day and deathly cold at night. People can not survive in extreme cold because our bodies can not withstand the cold that is gets to be at the South Pole. The whole content of Antarctica is covered with a sheet of ice that is a mile thick, so no vegetation can grow in the ground there, but some plants has adapted to live there though. There are some people that go there to study the continent and will live there, but Antarctica is still inhabitable.
3. Animals that reside at the South Pole
Not many animals can stand the extreme coldness that Antarctica has, but there are some land and ocean animals there. Some ocean animals that can be found there are the Weddell seal, Orcas, Leopard seal, Blue whale, Crabeater seal, Antarctic fur seal, Southern elephant seal, and the Ross seal. There are also birds that inhabit Antarctica and those include the Rockhopper penguin, Adelie penguin, the Emperor penguin, the Chinstrap penguin and also some flying birds as well. The flying birds include the Black-browed Albatross, Wandering Albatross and the Antartic Shag.
4. South Pole is considered a dessert
Yes, you read that right, the South Pole is really considered a dessert. The reason being is because there is little to no precipitation in Antarctica. The humidity of the air there is almost zero all year around and high winds can also occur there as well. When there are high winds, the wind will cause the snow to move that has already has fallen, creating more snow each year.
5. Earth’s water
About 90 percent of Earth’s water is located in Antarctica and have around seven million miles of of just ice. There isn’t much land there that isn’t covered by the ice, so 2 percent of the land in Antarctica is not covered by ice. There is so much ice that all of the things that is under it would rise up to around 3, 280 feet, or 1,000 meters if the ice was taken off of it.
6. Mount Erebus
Mount Erebus is the most famous active volcano that is located in Antarctica. Mount Erebus is the second highest volcano, Mount Sidley takes number one to being the highest volcano in Antarctica. Mount Erebus stands at 12,448 feet and Mount Sidley stands at 14,056 feet. Mount Erebus has been active since 1972, and last erupted in 2012, but still considered active. The volcano was discovered by a man named Sir James Clark Ross who was an explorer and discovered the volcano on the 27th of January in 1841.
7. First baby born in Antarctica
Emilio Palma is the first ever human that has been born in Antarctica. Emilio was born on January 7, 1978 to parents Jorge Palma and Silvia Palma. Emilio’s parents was in Antarctica because Jorge was on base there for the army. Since 1978, there has only been just 10 other humans being born in Antarctica
8. Thaddeus von Bellingshausen
Russian explorer Thaddeus von Bellingshausen, is said to be the very first person to set eyes on the continent of Antarctica in 1820 on January the 27th. In Russia, Thaddeus is considered one of the most greatest explorers and admirals. The first person to step foot on Antarctica is a debate between two men. One was John Davis, who was an American seal hunter and is said to have stepped on the continent in February of 1821. Or it could be whaler Henryk Bull, it is said that he stepped foot on Antarctica in January 1895.
9. It wasn’t always so icy
At one point in time the continent of Antarctica wasn’t also so cold and icy. Around fifty million years ago, it was a lot warmer than it is now. Scientists have found ferns, evergreen forest and a lot of fossils of animals that had once lived there. Once the ice caps formed at the South Pole, the plants and animals died off because they could not handle the extreme coldness that happens there.
10. Switch of the seasons
In the Northern hemisphere, the winter months came around in December and the summer months come around in May. On Antarctica, the seasons of the weather is the total opposite of that. The summer months lasts from October through February and the winter months are from March through September.
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