. Antarctica is a large continent located at the far south of the world. It is larger than Europe. The weather there is very cold. About 98% of Antarctica is covered with snow and ice. This means that it is mostly white. Very few people live there, except in the small towns of McMurdo and Palmer on the coast. There is a science station (a few buildings where scientists live) at the South Pole where experiments are done. These experiments have to do with the weather and outer space

People who want to go to Antarctica mostly go there in an airplane, but people can also take a boat to visit the continent. Boats can leave from Australia, New Zealand or Argentina. Antarctica has no government, although some countries claim parts of it as their own. New countries have not been allowed to do this since 1959.

There are very few plants in Antarctica; the only large air breathing animals are penguins, seals and whales. There are no polar bears (white bears that live at the north pole) living in Antarctica. Antarctica is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean, but the seas right around it are also called the Southern Ocean. The nearest other continent is South America.

In Antarctica, it is always dark during the winter, but in the summer the sun shines 24 hours a day. There is one volcano in Antarctica. It is named Mount Erebus. Mount Erebus is very tall and sometimes hot.

THE END