Eight Flying Geese

 

Antarctica is 40% larger than Europe, 50% larger than the US, and roughly half the area of Africa. Antarctica contains 90% of Earth’s fresh water, where it’s inaccessibly frozen. In spite of the fact it’s completely covered in ice, Antarctica gets less than 2” of precipitation per year, making it the world’s largest desert. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -128.6 Fahrenheit (-89.2 Celsius) at the Vostok station in 1983. Antarctica has no permanent human residents. The only inhabitants are scientists and support staff living in temporary quarters at research stations. The animals found here are blue whales, Antarctic krill, southern royal albatross, and several varieties of seal. Lots of penguins live here, too. The world’s largest penguin – the emperor penguin – is the only vertebrate that breeds here. Antarctica has no single official time zone. Instead, each research station uses the time zone of its supplier or home country.