!!!Antarctica: Geography
||Location|continent mostly south of the Antarctic Circle
||Geographic Coordinates|90 00 S, 0 00 E[{GoogleMap location='-90.0,0.0' zoom='4'}]
||Land boundaries|0 km\\''__note:__ ''see entry on Disputes - international
||Coastline|17,968 km
||Elevation Extremes|''lowest point: ''Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m\\''highest point: ''Vinson Massif 4,897 m\\''__note:__ ''the lowest known land point in Antarctica is hidden in the Bentley Subglacial Trench; at its surface is the deepest ice yet discovered and the world's lowest elevation not under seawater
||Highest Mountains|
||Terrain|about 98% thick continental ice sheet and 2% barren rock, with average elevations between 2,000 and 4,000 meters; mountain ranges up to nearly 5,000 meters; ice-free coastal areas include parts of southern Victoria Land, Wilkes Land, the Antarctic Peninsula area, and parts of Ross Island on McMurdo Sound; glaciers form ice shelves along about half of the coastline, and floating ice shelves constitute 11% of the area of the continent
||Natural Hazards|katabatic (gravity-driven) winds blow coastward from the high interior; frequent blizzards form near the foot of the plateau; cyclonic storms form over the ocean and move clockwise along the coast; volcanism on Deception Island and isolated areas of West Antarctica; other seismic activity rare and weak; large icebergs may calve from ice shelf
||Natural Resource|iron ore, chromium, copper, gold, nickel, platinum and other minerals, and coal and hydrocarbons have been found in small noncommercial quantities; none presently exploited; krill, finfish, and crab have been taken by commercial fisheries
||Land Use|''arable land: ''0%\\''permanent crops: ''0%\\''other: ''100% (ice 98%, barren rock 2%) (2011)
||Climate|severe low temperatures vary with latitude, elevation, and distance from the ocean; East Antarctica is colder than West Antarctica because of its higher elevation; Antarctic Peninsula has the most moderate climate; higher temperatures occur in January along the coast and average slightly below freezing
||Irrigated Land|NA
||Renewable Water Resources|NA
||Environment_CurrentIssues|in 1998, NASA satellite data showed that the Antarctic ozone hole was the largest on record, covering 27 million square kilometers; researchers in 1997 found that increased ultraviolet light passing through the hole damages the DNA of icefish, an Antarctic fish lacking hemoglobin; ozone depletion earlier was shown to harm one-celled Antarctic marine plants; in 2002, significant areas of ice shelves disintegrated in response to regional warming
||Environment - international agreements|NA
||Large Cities|
||Geography-note|the coldest, windiest, highest (on average), and driest continent; during summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at the South Pole than is received at the Equator in an equivalent period; mostly uninhabitable, 98% of land area is ice covered