Antarctic

The Antarctic is the region surrounding Earth’s South Pole, inside the Antarctic Circle, and sits directly opposite the Arctic at the North Pole. It includes the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau, and various island territories that lie on the Antarctic Plate or south of the Antarctic Convergence. This convergence is a natural border, a shifting zone about 20 to 30 miles wide where the cold Southern Ocean meets warmer northern waters. The entire region covers roughly 20 percent of the Southern Hemisphere, with the continent itself making up 5.5 percent of that area—about 14 million square kilometers. All land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude fall under the Antarctic Treaty System.

Biogeographically, the Antarctic is one of eight major land-based ecological realms. Climate change here is critical because melting of the Antarctic ice sheet could significantly raise global sea levels. This melting also disrupts the Southern Ocean’s overturning circulation, affecting local climate and marine life. No permanent country exists in Antarctica.

Under the Antarctic Treaty, the region is defined as everything south of 60°S, including Antarctica and the Balleny Islands, Peter I Island, Scott Island, the South Orkney Islands, and the South Shetland Islands. The Antarctic Convergence itself is not part of this treaty area, but its shifting boundary is approximated for conservation purposes by the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which uses fixed points along latitudes and longitudes. This convention is managed by an international commission in Hobart, Australia, using annual fishing quotas, licenses, inspectors on vessels, and satellite surveillance.

Islands between 60°S and the Antarctic Convergence, along with their 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones, are under the national jurisdiction of the countries that own them: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK), Bouvet Island (Norway), and Heard and McDonald Islands (Australia). The Kerguelen Islands (France, also an EU overseas territory) lie within the Convergence area. Islands north of the Convergence—such as Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, Campbell Island, Macquarie Island, and others—are outside the Antarctic region.

On the continent, less than 1 percent of the land is ice-free. Animals found there at least part of the year include seals, penguins, South Georgia pipits, albatrosses, Antarctic petrels, whales, fish like Antarctic icefish and toothfish, squid including the colossal squid, and Antarctic krill. Only two flowering plants grow: Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort. Mosses, liverworts, lichens, and macrofungi are also present.

On the sub-Antarctic islands, terrestrial biodiversity is low. Studies suggest the harsh climate limits species richness, though correlations exist with island area, temperature, remoteness, and food chain stability. Herbivorous insects are scarce because few plants grow, and native bird numbers depend on insects as a major food source. These islands include Isla de los Estados (Argentina) and Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (Chile).

The Antarctic contains the world’s largest protected area, the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protection Area, covering 1.07 million square kilometers, created in 2012. This is larger than Greenland National Park. (The Ross Sea Marine Protection Area, established in 2016, is bigger at 1.55 million square kilometers, but its protection expires in 35 years.) Since 2017, all ships over 500 tonnes in Antarctic waters must follow the Polar Code, adopted by the International Maritime Organization.

The first recorded sighting of Antarctica was by Spaniard Gabriel de Castilla in 1603, who reported distant snow-capped mountains. The first Antarctic land discovered was South Georgia, visited by English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. The first confirmed sighting of the continent itself is generally credited to the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev in 1820. The first person born in the Antarctic was Australian James Kerguelen Robinson, born on a sealing ship near Kerguelen Island in 1859. The first person born and raised on an Antarctic island was Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen, born in Grytviken, South Georgia, in 1913.