The geography of Antarctica is dominated by its south polar location and, thus, by ice. The Antarctic continent, located in the Earth's southern hemisphere, is centered asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle. It is washed by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, the southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. It has an area of more than 14.2 million km2. Antarctica is the largest ice desert in the world.
A pole of inaccessibility with respect to a geographical criterion of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach according to that criterion. Often it refers to the most distant point from the coastline, implying a maximum degree of continentality or oceanity. In these cases, a pole of inaccessibility can be defined as the center of the largest circle that can be drawn within an area of interest without encountering a coast. Where a coast is imprecisely defined, the pole will be similarly imprecise.
Petermann Island is a small, low and rounded island, lying off the northwest coast of Kyiv Peninsula in Graham Land, Antarctica, a short distance south of Booth Island and the Lemaire Channel. It is a popular tourist destination.
James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to 1,630 metres (5,350 ft), it is irregularly shaped and extends 64 km in a north–south direction. It was charted in October 1903 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskiöld, who named it for Sir James Clark Ross, the leader of a British expedition to this area in 1842 that discovered and roughly charted a number of points along the eastern side of the island. The style, "James" Ross Island is used to avoid confusion with the more widely known Ross Island in McMurdo Sound.
Argentine Antarctica is an area on Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory. It consists of the Antarctic Peninsula and a triangular section extending to the South Pole, delimited by the 25° West and 74° West meridians and the 60° South parallel. This region overlaps with British and Chilean claims in Antarctica. None of these claims have widespread international recognition.
Anvers Island or Antwerp Island or Antwerpen Island or Isla Amberes is a high, mountainous island 61 km long, the largest in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was discovered by John Biscoe in 1832 and named in 1898 by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Adrien de Gerlache after the province of Antwerp in Belgium. It lies south-west of Brabant Island at the south-western end of the group. The south-western coastline of the island forms part of the Southwest Anvers Island and Palmer Basin Antarctic Specially Managed Area. Cormorant Island, an Important Bird Area, lies 1 km off the south coast.
Gerlache Strait or de Gerlache Strait or Détroit de la Belgica is a channel/strait separating the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula. The Belgian Antarctic Expedition, under Lt. Adrien de Gerlache, explored the strait in January and February 1898, naming it for the expedition ship Belgica. The name was later changed to honor the commander himself.
Holy Trinity Church is a small Russian Orthodox church on King George Island near Bellingshausen Station, a Russian research station in Antarctica. It is one of the eight churches on Antarctica. It is the southernmost Eastern Orthodox church in the world.
Religion in Antarctica is largely dominated by Christianity, with churches being the only religious buildings on the continent. Although used regularly for Christian worship, the Chapel of the Snows has also been used for Buddhist and Baháʼí Faith ceremonies. Some of the early religious buildings are now protected as important historical monuments.
Cornwall Island is a low ice-free island off the north coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Surface area 15 hectares. Mónica Rock is lying 1.65 km (1.03 mi) west of the island and 3.4 km (2.1 mi) north of Passage Rock, 2.84 km (1.76 mi) east of Table Island and 2 km (1.2 mi) south of Potmess Rocks. The area was visited by early 19th century sealers operating from nearby Clothier Harbour.
The Ambrose Rocks are a small cluster of rocks situated southwest of the southern Argentine Islands and 1 nautical mile (2 km) northwest of the Gaunt Rocks, off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. They were named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee for David A. Ambrose, a survey assistant of the Hydrographic Survey Unit from HMS Endurance working in this area in February 1969.
The Chapel of Santisima Virgen de Lujan or the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin of Lujan is a Roman Catholic chapel located at the Argentine base Marambio on Seymour-Marambio Island in Antarctica. It is the third most southern place of worship of any religion. It is one of eight churches on Antarctica. The permanent steel-structured chapel is used for Christian worship by the various Argentine personnel on station. The chapel features a bell tower and cross.
Wiggins Glacier is a 10 nautical miles (18 km) long glacier on Kyiv Peninsula in Antarctica, flowing from Bruce Plateau to the west coast of Graham Land just south of Blanchard Ridge. Charted by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10, under Charcot, and named Glacier du Milieu. Feeling that a more distinctive name was needed, the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1959 renamed the glacier for W.D.C. Wiggins, then Deputy Director of Overseas Surveys.
Hoek Glacier is a glacier flowing into Dimitrov Cove northeast of Veshka Point on the northwest coast of Velingrad Peninsula on Graham Coast in Graham Land, Antarctica, southward of the Llanquihue Islands. It was charted by the British Graham Land Expedition under John Rymill, 1934–37, and was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1959 for Henry W. Hoek (1878–1951), a pioneer Swiss ski-mountaineer and author of one of the earliest skiing manuals.
McCance Glacier is the 30-km long and 5 km wide glacier draining the Hutchison Hill area on the west slopes of Avery Plateau on Loubet Coast in Graham Land, Antarctica. It flows north-northwestwards along the west side of Osikovo Ridge, Kladnitsa Peak and Rubner Peak and enters Darbel Bay.
Ball Glacier is a small glacier separating Redshaw Point from Hamilton Point, flowing north-east to Markham Bay on the south-east side of James Ross Island. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-names Committee in 1995 after H. William Ball, Keeper of Paleontology, British Museum, 1966–86, and author of Falklands Islands Dependencies Survey Scientific Report No. 24 on fossils from the James Ross Island area. The region has a low frequency of winds mainly due to the orography of the Antarctic peninsula which affects airflow throughout the region along the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The region is moderated by cold air masses passing through the area. They are of continental origins, coming mainly from the south and southwest but can be significantly reduced by the island's advection of oceanic air masses.
Green Island is one of the Berthelot Islands group, lying off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica.
Shut Island is the partly ice-free island extending 573 m in west–east direction and 520 m in south–north direction in the Dannebrog Islands group of Wilhelm Archipelago in the Antarctic Peninsula region. Its surface area is 14 ha.
Corner Island is a small island in the form of a crude right angle, lying 0.1 nautical miles northeast of Galindez Island in the Argentine Islands, Wilhelm Archipelago. Charted and named in 1935 by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) under John Rymill.
