Antarctica is drier than the Sahara Desert.

Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest place on earth. It holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F)

It is officially the windiest place on Earth

Its average wind speed is 10.8 knots but has easily exceeded 100 knots. The strong winds are the result of katabatic winds (katabasis is Greek word for 'going down') which arise when cold, dense air lying less than a few hundred metres off the surface at the highest levels of the Antarctic ice sheets flows down towards the coast under gravity.

Eerie Blood Falls that look exactly like the name suggests

In the McMurdo Dry Valley, a bright red, five-storey high waterfall pours out of Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. looking like a bleeding wound on white ice, its red colour comes from iron-rich, salty water seeping from an ancient underground lake.

This eerie sight is only accessible by helicopter or cruise ships visiting the Ross Sea.

Lake Vostok: The secret underground lake that's been sealed for 15 million years

Lake Vostok is buried under 2.5 miles (4 km) of ice. Scientists believe it may contain unknown life forms that have evolved in isolation for millions of years.

There are estimated to be around 400 unfrozen freshwater lakes sitting under 3 kilometres of ice!

Hyper saline Deep Lake

Deep lake Don Juan Pond is an inland hyper saline lake just 55 meters below sea level but exceeding ocean salinity by ten times. Hence its waters never freeze and is off limits for all living organisms.

Green ice

There's a place where ice is green because the increase in temperatures from global warming create an atmosphere for green algae to grow on melting snow.

Mysterious singing shifting Ice

Ross ice shelf which is the biggest ice shelf on Antarctica about the size of whole France and 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface.( 90%of this floating ice is below the water surface) has been found to be emitting sounds (due to wind movement across snow dunes) that researchers and scientists liken to mournful singing.

The singing isn't audible to human ears and can only be heard through seismic sensors discovered accidentally, after sensors were installed to observe other behaviours.

But even more surprising than this, this entire massive ice shelf shifts suddenly a few inches at least once everyday!

It has the biggest iceberg(s) in the world

A23a is a trillion ton megaberg which broke off from Filchner Ronne Ice shelf and was stuck on ocean floor for 40 years but is now heading towards South Georgia, a remote island in Atlantic. 

Above picture is of A23a.

Born fron Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, Iceberg B-15 was meausred to be around 295 by 37 kilometres, with a surface area of 11,000 square kilometres. It broke off in 2000 and floated around for more than 18 years before melting.

The warming of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica causes the weakening or collapse of ice shelves creating these massive ice bergs.

Antarctica holds world's 70% fresh water reserve

About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 metres (200 ft).

The Treaty of Antarctica

Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries. All kinds of military activity, mining, nuclear explosions, and nuclear waste disposal are prohibited. Tourism, fishing and research are the main human activities in and around Antarctica.

There are active volcanoes on Antarctica

A real song of fire and ice

Satellite image of glowing lava on Mount Erebus in picture above.

Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano for around 1.3 million years and erupts around 10 times each day. Ash from eruptions has been found 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the volcanic crater. There are large number of volcanoes under the ice, which poses a risk to the ice sheet if activity levels were to rise.

Mysterious depiction of Antarctica in 1513, Piri Reis map long before Antarctica was discovered

Early world maps, like the 1513 Piri Reis map, allegedly featured ice free shorelines of Antarctica, long before frozen Antarctica was discovered in 1820 which

Growing tourism is a growing problem for Antarctica

Over 74,000 tourists visited the region during the 2019–2020 season, of which 18,500 travelled on cruise ships but did not leave them to explore on land. Tourists arrive by small or medium ship at specific scenic locations with accessible concentrations of iconic wildlife but this contributes to disruption and warming leading to green ice phenomena.

Antarctica is the perfect place for meteorite hunting, bird watching and star gazing

Antarctica provides a unique environment for the study of meteorites: the dry polar desert preserves them well, and meteorites older than a million years have been found. They are relatively easy to find, as the dark stone meteorites stand out in a landscape of ice and snow, and the flow of ice accumulates them in certain areas.

Sudden appearance of a mysterious hole the size of Ireland in 2017

The Weddell Sea polynya is a massive hole in the sea ice that randomly appears and disappears without explanation. It is ice free hole that is suddenly created when warmer water rises to the surface of the ocean.

Antarctic ice is so heavy that it flattens the Earth

Antarctica's ice is over a mile thick on average and presses down on the Earth's crust, making the planet slightly less round. Were all the ice to melt, not only will ocean level rise, the land that is weighed down under all this ice will heave upward changing the face of the continent as we know it.

Antarctica is rife with abnormal anomalies and conspiracy theories

People believe there existed an advanced ancient civilisation on Antarctica that suddenly ended when Antarctica froze. Speculations such as crystal pyramids under ice, dead alien bodies having elongated skulls, crashed alien spaceships, bizarre manmade structures have been regularly doing the rounds. Some believe the lost city of Atlantis might be hidden under the Arctic ice.

It is widely believed that Adolf Hitler had a passion for the occult and he was searching for something in Antarctica; he secretly sponsored several Nazi expeditions to Antarctica that allegedly discovered advanced alien stations! Nothing has been proven, of course.

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