Antarctica is entirely surrounded by the Southern Ocean — one of the stormiest and most remote ocean regions on Earth. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the world's largest ocean current by volume, flows around the continent unimpeded by any landmass, driving global ocean circulation and influencing weather patterns worldwide.
Transantarctic Mountains
The Transantarctic Mountains stretch nearly 3,500 km across the continent, dividing East and West Antarctica. They contain fossil leaves, wood, and other remains of ancient plants and forests — evidence that Antarctica was once much warmer and ice-free, connected to the supercontinent Gondwana.
Ice Sheet
Antarctica is the coldest and driest continent on Earth, and its ice sheet is up to 4,800 meters thick in places — so heavy it has pushed the bedrock thousands of meters below sea level. It covers about 98% of the continent and contains ice layers that preserve bubbles of ancient air, giving scientists a climate record stretching back 800,000 years.
Mount Erebus
Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano, rising 3,794 meters above sea level. It has maintained a permanent lava lake in its crater since at least 1972, making it one of only a handful of places on Earth with a persistent open lava surface.
Did you know?
Antarctica holds about 70% of the world's fresh water, all locked in its ice sheet — if all of that ice melted, global sea level would rise by about 58 meters.
Lake Vostok, buried beneath nearly 4 km of Antarctic ice, is one of the world's largest subglacial lakes and may have been isolated beneath the ice for millions of years. Scientists study environments like this partly because they may offer clues about whether life could survive beneath the icy surfaces of worlds such as Jupiter's moon Europa.
Research Stations
Dozens of year-round and seasonal research stations operated by more than 30 countries dot Antarctica, ranging from major bases like the U.S. McMurdo Station to tiny seasonal camps. Thousands of scientists and support staff live on the continent during the busy summer research season, while far fewer remain through the dark Antarctic winter. Antarctica has no Indigenous population and no permanent civilian residents.
The Heroic Age of Exploration
Three expeditions define Antarctica's early 20th-century history. Roald Amundsen's Norwegian team reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911. Robert Falcon Scott's British team arrived 34 days later and died on the return journey. Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Endurance expedition ended with the ship crushed by pack ice — followed by an extraordinary survival and rescue effort that saved all 28 expedition members.
International Governance
The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 during the Cold War by 12 nations, declared Antarctica a scientific preserve, banned military activity and nuclear testing, and held existing territorial claims in place without endorsing them. Today, nearly 60 countries are parties to the treaty. It is widely considered one of the most successful international agreements in history, a continent governed by consensus rather than ownership.
Global Scientific Significance
Antarctic research has produced discoveries that affect the entire planet: British scientists discovered the ozone hole here in 1985; ice cores yield climate records back 800,000 years; and changes in Antarctica's enormous ice sheets are crucial to projections of future global sea-level rise. Antarctica is, in a real sense, the world's largest natural laboratory.
Did you know?
The first person born in Antarctica was Emilio Marcos Palma, on January 7, 1978 — his mother was sent to Argentina's Esperanza Base late in her pregnancy as part of the country's effort to strengthen its presence in the Antarctic territory it claims. Chile later established families at its own Antarctic base as well, and several more children have since been born on the continent.
Women were shut out of Antarctic expeditions for decades, even when they volunteered to go. In 1937, British explorer Ernest Shackleton's former crewmate John Rymill received applications from more than 1,000 women hoping to join his Antarctic expedition — but none were accepted. Women gradually broke through these barriers, and in 1969, six American women scientists became the first women to reach the South Pole.
Fishing & the Krill Economy
The Southern Ocean supports commercial fisheries for Antarctic krill and Patagonian toothfish (marketed internationally as "Chilean sea bass"). Annual krill catches reach several hundred thousand tonnes. Krill also anchor the entire Antarctic food web — feeding penguins, seals, and baleen whales — so how much can be harvested without harming the ecosystem is a subject of ongoing international scientific and political debate.
Tourism
Antarctica now receives more than 100,000 visitors in a typical recent tourism season, almost entirely by cruise ship. Visits concentrate in a handful of coastal sites where wildlife is most accessible and ice conditions are manageable. Tourism brings revenue to gateway cities like Ushuaia (Argentina) and Punta Arenas (Chile) but raises serious concerns about cumulative impacts on fragile shoreline habitats.
The Antarctic Treaty System
Antarctica is unlike any other continent: there are no commercial mines, oil fields, farms, or permanent industries. The Antarctic Treaty System and its Environmental Protocol reserve the continent for peaceful purposes and scientific research, prohibit mineral extraction, and require strict environmental protections. Even tourism and fishing operate under international rules designed to protect Antarctica's unusually fragile environment.
Territorial Claims
Seven countries claim territorial slices of Antarctica: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The Argentine and Chilean claims overlap each other and the British claim. Under the Antarctic Treaty, these claims are frozen — neither recognized nor abandoned — creating a legal status unique in international law.
Did you know?
Antarctica has no official time zone. Because all of the world's lines of longitude meet at the South Pole, almost any time zone could technically be used there. Research stations generally use the time zone of the country that supplies them or the place they travel through — so neighboring stations can keep completely different times.
Women were shut out of Antarctic expeditions for decades, even when they volunteered to go. In 1937, British explorer Ernest Shackleton's former crewmate John Rymill received applications from more than 1,000 women hoping to join his Antarctic expedition — but none were accepted. Women gradually broke through these barriers, and in 1969, six American women scientists became the first women to reach the South Pole.
On Antarctica's Ross Island, Mount Erebus is a snow-covered volcano with a lake of bubbling molten lava inside its crater, surrounded by some of the coldest conditions on Earth. Unlike most volcanoes, where molten rock remains hidden underground, Erebus has maintained an exposed lava lake for more than 50 years. Heat and gases escaping from the volcano melt snow and ice beneath the surface, creating underground ice caves and channels for steam to escape. When the warm, moist gases reach the freezing Antarctic air, water vapor turns directly into ice around the openings, gradually building hollow ice towers that can rise dozens of feet high.
Don Juan Pond in Antarctica is so salty that it can stay liquid at temperatures near −50°F. Its water is about 40 percent salt, much of it calcium chloride—the same type of salt used to melt ice on roads. Water moving through the surrounding rocks and soil carries dissolved salts into the pond, and as water evaporates, the salts stay behind and become increasingly concentrated.
Almost all of Antarctica is buried beneath thick ice, but the McMurdo Dry Valleys contain thousands of square miles of exposed rock, gravel, and soil, creating a vast desert in the middle of the frozen continent. The surrounding mountains block much of the Antarctic ice sheet from flowing into the valleys and prevent most snowfall from reaching them. Powerful, extremely dry winds sweep down from the mountains, causing much of the remaining snow to turn directly into water vapor without ever melting. Together, these conditions keep the valley floors largely free of ice, even though temperatures remain below freezing for most of the year.
In Antarctica, a deep red stream called Blood Falls pours from the side of Taylor Glacier, looking almost like blood spilling onto the ice. Every few years, extremely salty water escapes from beneath the glacier, where its high salt concentration keeps it liquid despite temperatures below freezing. This water contains dissolved iron that reacts with oxygen when it reaches the surface, forming reddish particles similar to rust. Although the water eventually stops flowing, the red deposits remain frozen on the glacier, creating the eerie appearance of a waterfall made of blood.
Recipes
For the whole family
Sledging Biscuits
Early expeditions depended on compact foods that would survive months of transport and intense cold. Women were largely excluded from those celebrated expeditions, but later women scientists and field workers also relied on carefully planned rations when traveling away from stations.
A firm biscuit made from flour, baking soda, salt, butter, and water
Difficulty: Easy; the dough uses only five basic ingredients
Hoosh supplied warmth and calories from provisions that could be carried for months, but its sameness also shows how little variety early field parties had. The all-male expeditions most often remembered from this period reflected the exclusion of women from officially supported polar exploration.
A thick stew of pemmican, crumbled sledging biscuits, and water or melted snow
Difficulty: More involved because the pemmican and biscuits must be prepared or obtained first; it is best suited to older learners
Modern stations serve varied meals prepared by professional chefs, and women and men share kitchen and station duties. Most food arrives during a summer resupply and must last many months; fresh produce is limited, while small hydroponic systems provide some lettuce, herbs, and tomatoes during the long winter.
An official overview of how annual resupply, station chefs, preserved foods, hydroponics, and the Midwinter Dinner shape life on the continent today
Book connection: The historical foods illuminate the rationing and survival conditions portrayed in Shackleton's Stowaway, Endurance, and Shackleton's Journey; the modern reference shows how Antarctic food and community life have changed.
Traditional Games
All ages
Krillin’ It
K–23–56–8
A printable board game in which players travel through the Antarctic krill life cycle while encountering sea ice, food, predators, fishing, and changing ocean conditions.
You’ll need
The printed two-page game, one counter per player, and one die.
How to play
Place every counter on square 1. Take turns rolling and moving toward square 120; climb the orange chains and slide down the aqua tubes. The first krill to reach the spawning grounds wins.
A printable voyage game that follows Australia’s icebreaker through ocean travel, research, wildlife encounters, and the resupply work connecting Tasmania with Antarctic stations.
You’ll need
The printed game pages, scissors for the included pieces, counters, and a die.
How to play
Prepare the printable pieces, then follow the directions on the game to complete a voyage aboard RSV Nuyina.
Locate Antarctica and the South Pole, then compare the continent with the ocean-centered Arctic
Play
Waddle, Huddle, and Protect the Egg
Move like an emperor penguin while modeling how adults carry eggs and share warmth
Science
Blubber Glove Experiment
Compare a plain plastic covering with a model blubber layer to see how insulation slows heat loss in cold water
Hands-On
Make a Paper Plate Penguin
Turn a paper plate into an emperor penguin, then place it in a snowy Antarctic scene
Science
Build Your Own Ice Core
Layer colored ice or materials in a cup to see how scientists read thousands of years of Antarctic history
Science
McMurdo Weather Detective
Make a forecast from visual clues, then check it against current station data
Hands-On
Break the Ice: Design an Icebreaker
Build and test a model vessel that can move through floating ice while carrying cargo
Science
Antarctica's Food Web: From Tiny to Giant
Trace how energy moves from microscopic phytoplankton to krill to whales, and see what happens when one link is removed.
Map Work
Shackleton's Endurance: Ice, Maps, and Survival
Trace the Endurance expedition route and see how ice conditions shaped every decision the crew made.
Science
Ice Cores: Reading the Past in Frozen Layers
See how scientists drill into Antarctic ice to read centuries of climate history layer by layer.
Video
Endurance: Survival Story and Modern Shipwreck Discovery
Follow the 1914–1916 expedition, then see how an international team located and documented the wreck in 2022
Video
Scientists at Thwaites Glacier
See how international scientists use ships and instruments to study Thwaites Glacier—and why changes there matter for global sea levels
Map Work
Map Antarctica’s Landforms and International Stations
Map the continent’s major regions and see how national research programs cooperate across immense distances
Science
Read a Classroom Ice Core
Build and examine a model ice core to learn how layers, trapped air, dust, and debris preserve evidence of past environments
Primary Source
Byrd’s First Antarctic Expedition—and the Work Behind Exploration
Explore photographs of the ships, aircraft, cargo, camp, dog teams, and daily labor supporting the 1928–1930 expedition
Map Work
Amundsen and Scott: Two Plans for the South Pole
Compare the routes, equipment, animals, supplies, schedules, and decisions that helped Amundsen return safely while Scott’s team died on the journey back
Map Work
Women and International Antarctic Science
Trace women’s struggle for access to Antarctica and see how women now contribute across international research programs
Primary Source
Ice-Core Carbon-Dioxide Data Analysis
Use Antarctic ice-core evidence and modern measurements to study changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide
Primary Source
How the Antarctic Treaty Works
Discover how the Antarctic Treaty reserves the continent for peaceful activity and scientific research while countries cooperate on inspections, information sharing, and environmental management
Primary Source
Tourism and Environmental Rules in Antarctica
Learn why visitors follow strict rules protecting wildlife, research sites, vegetation, and the continent’s fragile environment
Picture Books
Recommended for grades K–4 and family read-alouds. Short, illustrated books suited to independent or shared reading; some explore subjects that older students can study more deeply.
Newly hatched Nanu huddles on his father’s feet through the Antarctic winter, waiting for his mother’s return before facing predators and his first perilous journey to the sea.
Course connections: Life in an emperor penguin colony
While female emperor penguins return to the sea, the fathers balance precious eggs on their feet and endure the darkest, coldest Antarctic months without eating.
Course connections: How emperor penguins raise chicks during the Antarctic winter
Newly calved from a glacier, an iceberg drifts through a full cycle of Antarctic seasons—crowded with penguins and krill in spring, softening in summer sun, locked in ice through winter—before its life ends and a new iceberg calves to begin the cycle again.
Course connections: The life cycle of an iceberg and Antarctic seasonal change
Setting sail for Antarctica aboard a research ship, a young explorer and his worry-prone friend Mouse make fast friends with penguins and a whale—though Mouse spends half the trip making lists of everything you can't do on a boat in choppy water.
Course connections: A child's-eye view of traveling to Antarctica by research ship
Middle Grade
YMG — Younger Middle Grade: Recommended for grades 4–6. Accessible chapter books with clear plots, straightforward prose, and themes suited to upper-elementary readers.OMG — Older Middle Grade: Recommended for grades 6–8. Longer or more complex stories with greater emotional and thematic depth, while remaining written for middle-grade readers.
Through journal entries, sketches, photographs, maps, and emails, nine-year-old Sophie records towering icebergs, roaring storms, penguins, scientists, and daily life aboard an Antarctic icebreaker.
Course connections: Travel and daily life aboard an Antarctic research ship
Flora the pig refuses the future planned for her and talks her way onto an Antarctic expedition, where surviving among sled dogs requires more than her dream of becoming an explorer.
Course connections: Polar travel and survival in Antarctica
On a National Science Foundation grant, artist Jennifer Owings Dewey spends four months at Palmer Station—hiking glaciers, sailing past icebergs and whales, and even falling into a crevasse—all captured in journal entries, letters home, and colored-pencil sketches.
Course connections: Scientific life at an Antarctic research station
Middle Grade / Teen Crossover
Recommended for grades 6–9. Books that appeal across the middle-grade and early-teen years because of their subject matter, themes, or reading level.
Eighteen-year-old Perce Blackborow secretly boards Shackleton’s Endurance and earns a place in its crew—only to become trapped with them when Antarctic ice crushes the ship.
Course connections: The Endurance expedition and survival in Antarctica
Twelve-year-old aspiring scientist Victoria travels to Antarctica to film an online nature feature, then discovers that the expedition’s corporate sponsors may care more about publicity than protecting the continent she has dreamed of studying.
Course connections: Antarctic field science, environmental protection, tourism, and media coverage of the continent.
Grade 9 / Advanced
Recommended for grades 8–9 and up. More demanding in length, language, structure, subject matter, or required background knowledge.
Seventeen-year-old Billy Gawronski repeatedly slips past guards and hides aboard ships until Richard Byrd finally allows the determined Polish American teenager to join his celebrated 1928 Antarctic expedition.
Course connections: Life on Richard Byrd’s 1928 Antarctic expedition
Built from expedition diaries and firsthand testimony, this gripping adult narrative follows Shackleton’s twenty-eight men from the crushing of Endurance through months on drifting ice, a desperate open-boat voyage, and an astonishing rescue.
Course connections: Shackleton’s Endurance expedition and survival after shipwreck
After years of training, fundraising, and being told that polar exploration belonged to men, Norwegian adventurer Liv Arnesen sets out alone across Antarctica, hauling a 220-pound sledge through whiteouts, crevasses, bitter cold, and fifty days of isolation to become the first known woman to ski unsupported to the South Pole.
Course connections: A solo Antarctic expedition, Norwegian polar traditions, and the obstacles faced by women explorers.
Color photographs and firsthand reporting introduce the helicopter pilots, seal and penguin researchers, volcanologists, paleoclimatologists, and other women whose work transformed Antarctica from a male-only frontier into a center of modern science.
Course connections: Women’s scientific and support work in modern Antarctica.
Intricate colored-pencil maps and panoramic scenes trace Shackleton’s Endurance expedition from its ambitious preparations through shipwreck, drifting ice, open boats, and rescue.
Course connections: A visual journey through Shackleton’s Endurance expedition
Comics, diagrams, maps, field notes, and lively illustrations explore Antarctic ice, wildlife, geology, research stations, climate science, and what changes at the pole mean for the planet.
Course connections: Antarctic wildlife, ice, research, and climate
Mario Cuesta Hernando, illustrated by Raquel Martín
Grades K–5Geography & Culture
Sweeping large-format artwork and accessible explanations reveal how Antarctica formed, why its ice matters, which animals survive there, and how explorers and scientists work in its extreme environment.
Course connections: The land, wildlife, exploration, and science of Antarctica
Panoramic scenes packed with labels, maps, diagrams, and cutaways invite readers to browse Antarctic ice, storms, wildlife, research stations, exploration, international cooperation, and everyday survival.
Course connections: Weather, wildlife, research, and daily survival in Antarctica
Traveling from one Antarctic research station to another, scientist Gabrielle Walker combines encounters with researchers and wildlife with clear explanations of glaciers, geology, climate, extreme weather, and international politics.
Course connections: Research, wildlife, weather, and politics in modern Antarctica
A note for parents
Grade recommendations are based on reading level, complexity, and intended audience. Because every student and family is different, please review the book descriptions and content notes, and preview titles as needed, to determine whether each selection is a good fit for your student and your family's values. Content notes identify potentially sensitive material but may not cover every concern.
“Don Juan Pond” (DonJuanSTILL.0660) by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, Landsat 7 Project Science Office, and the MODIS Rapid Response Team, from “Great Zoom into Don Juan Pond, Antarctica”, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. Resized and cropped.
“McMurdo Dry Valleys” by Robert Simmon, NASA Earth Observatory, using Landsat 7 data from the NASA GSFC Oceans and Ice Branch and the Landsat 7 Science Team. Public domain. Resized and cropped.
“Blood Falls by Peter Rejcek” by Peter Rejcek, National Science Foundation, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain (work of a U.S. federal government employee). Resized and cropped.
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