A photo from open sources A few little-known facts about stunningly beautiful continent. Antarctica is the coldest windy, high and dry continent on the planet. 
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Antarctica is a desert, despite the fact that it holds 70 percent of the global supply of fresh water. On average on the mainland Precipitation is not more than six centimeters per year. Most of Of these, the eastern part of the mainland. These indicators comparable to the Sahara desert.
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In winter, the area of sea ice around Antarctica grows at a speed of over 64 thousand square kilometers in day.
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Only 2 percent of the continent is visible from under the ice.
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The ice of Antarctica is so heavy that it deforms the South Pole. In fact, its weight makes the shape of the Earth somewhat pear-shaped.
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Antarctica ranks first in the ranking of the lowest recorded temperatures on Earth, namely -84.5 ° C. Such temperature was observed at the Russian station Vostok in 1983. At this temperature, the steel crumbles and the water explodes, turning into separate ice crystals. Forces of Nature rarely take on such a fierce character as in Antarctica, why the continent is considered one of the most inhospitable places on the earth.
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The continent is subject to regular downdrafts reaching 300 km per hour, which blow from the center of the mainland.
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The first people to reach the South Pole were participants Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen on December 14, 1911. A month later, Robert Scott’s British expedition also reached 90 degrees south latitude, but all its members tragically died on the way back.
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Assumptions about the existence of the “southern land” remained unconfirmed until the early 1820s. And after the Second world war there was a real boom in research on continent.
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Today, seven countries have declared their territorial claims for Antarctica (Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom), but not all countries, including the United States and Russia, recognize these claims.
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In order to form a legal framework for the activities of nations on continent, the Antarctic Treaty was concluded, which denies and does not confirm the existing territorial claims. The document provides for the demilitarization of the area Antarctica.
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Paradoxically, one of the greatest dangers to researchers and other people living on the continent – this is fire. A dry environment increases the likelihood of its occurrence and complicates attempts to repay it.
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Antarctica is the largest untouched territory on The earth.
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Antarctica contains 90% of the world’s ice reserves.
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In summer, more radiation reaches the South Pole than the equator. it happens because the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic is the largest known and is 27 million square kilometers.
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Antarctica Ice Marathon is an annual hundred-kilometer run that takes place on an ice sheet in the shadow of the Elsuert Mountains just a few hundred miles from the South Pole.
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Antarctica Water
