Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).

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.

Because Antarctica surrounds the South Pole, it is theoretically located in all time zones. For practical purposes, time zones are usually based on territorial claims or the time zone of a station's owner country or supply base.

Antarctica is the only continent with no permanent human habitation. There are, however, permanent human settlements, where scientists and support staff live for part of the year on a rotating basis.

Explore Earth's coldest continent with the latest Antarctica news, articles and features from Live Science.

Where is Antarctica? Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and least populated continent on the planet. It is in the Southern Hemisphere and it is surrounded by the Southern Ocean.

Though Antarctica is really, really chilly, it is considered a desert because it receives very little rain or snowfall. The small amount of snow that does fall does not melt but builds up over hundreds and thousands of years to form large, thick ice sheets.

What’s Beneath All That Ice In Antarctica? New Map Reveals The Hidden World And Possibly The Future A team of international scientists compiled decades of data to create a map showing the ...

NASA uses satellites to study the ice on Antarctica and how the continent is changing. Scientists want to know how changes in Earth’s climate are affecting Antarctica’s ice sheets.

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and least populated continent in the world. It is in the Southern Hemisphere. It is surrounded by the Southern Ocean.