Antartica

In 2001, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen traveled 2,700 kilometers on

foot across Antartica, each pulling a sled carrying 100 kilograms of food and
equipment. Crossing this land of extremes was no easy feat. The
temperature in antartica is often an unimaginable -40 0C- the temperature at
which skin and flesh freeze! Antartica holds the record for the coldest
temperature ever measured on Earth, which is 89.20C.

Antartica contains approximately 70 percent of the worlds fresh water

supply, and yet it is considered to be one of the worlds largest deserts.
Thats because Antarticas enormous supply of fresh water is locked up in ice
that averages over two kilometers in thickness. If the ice sheets melted, the
seas would rise as much 60 meters. However, like all other deserts on Earth,
Antartica receives less than 250 millimeters of rain a year. Its hard to
believe that, 500 million years ago, Antartica has a warm climate and a cover
of lush vegetation.

Despite the enormous size of the continent, only a few invertebrates

can survive on the Antartic peninsula, and even they are rare. The largest of
this group is a type of midge, which grows to the colossal size of 12
millimeters. The only plant life that can survive in this harsh climate consist
mainly of algae, moss, and lichen.

While the surface of Antartica is in hospitable to most living things, the

water surrounding the continent is teeming with living creatures. At the
bottom of the food chain in Antartic waters is a hardy type of algae. During
the winter, the algae live between the layers of snow on the sea ice, but
when the ice breaks open in the spring, the algae pour into the ocean. Huge
number of krill, tiny sea animals that are less than eight centimeters long,
feed on the algae. The krill, in turn, are a vital source of food for seabirds,
fish, seals, whales, and penguins.
 Today, Antartica has more than 30 research stations, including those
Argentina, Australia, Chile, Germnay, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, New
Zealand, Russia, and the United States. Most scientists live and work there
from october to march, when the sun shines 24 hours a day. The second half
of the year brings darkness and isolation. The few scientist who remain are
trapped for months with only radios, phones, and the internet to link them to
the rest of the world. After six or seven months, a plane returns with supplies
and releases the scientists from their solitude.