Antarctica is generally referred to as being the most inhospitable place on earth. Until recently, it’s freezing temperatures, desert conditions, high winds and harsh topography of ice and rock have kept the Antarctic environment relatively understudied and unknown. However, in the last 50 years, many countries have made efforts to study the continent and thanks to their efforts, we now have a much better understanding of the Antarctic environment.
 
Fast Facts:

• The Antarctic Environment can be split into three separate regions: The Antarctic Peninsula, The Antarctic Coast, and the Antarctic Interior. The overwhelming majority of life lies in the Peninsula region, which is the warmest and receives the most precipitation annually on average.
• The driving force behind the harsh Antarctic climate is the low amount of solar radiation (energy) it receives due to its position at the South Pole. This is the predominant factor causing its extremely low temperatures. The lowest temperature ever recorded on earth was -89C/-129F at Vostok research station in the continental interior. Antarctica is the coldest continent on earth.
• The majority of Antarctica is a desert as it receives less than 50mm of precipitation annually on average. In the continental interior, there is practically no humidity.
• It is the highest continent in the world. The average elevation is approximately 2500m.
• Antarctica has very erratic and harsh weather systems. Where the continental interior slopes down to the coast, gale force winds are common for much of the winter. It is the windiest continent on earth, with the world record annual mean wind speed of 19.4m/s being recorded at Cape Denison back between 1912 and 1913.

Located less than 1000km from Cape Horn, the tip of South America, this narrow continental land mass and collection of islands experiences the most moderate climate of the three Antarctic zones. Its climate is influenced by the southern oceanic convergence where the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans combine to form the Southern Ocean, which is pushed through the Drake Passage. As a result of the intense weather systems produced around the southern oceanic convergence, and the peninsula’s position further north from the pole, this area experiences warmer average temperatures and larger amounts of precipitation, including rainfall in the summer months, compared to the rest of the continent. The annual water equivalent in precipitation generally exceeds 250mm. These climatic factors combine to produce an environment suitable to sustain life year round, and support a rich marine ecosystem.

In general, the continental coast region extends approximately 200km inland from the coastline of Antarctica. This region is surrounded by sea-ice annually, and experiences severe storms originating in the interior (Katabatic Winds), and in the oceanic southern convergence zone. High velocity winds (in excess of 40 knots) are predominant along the coast, and persist for extremely long periods of time, particularly in the winter months. Due to its proximity to the sea, the continental coast region receives the majority of precipitation in Antarctica. The precipitation is generally in the form of snow, however the accumulation stops at approximately 200km inland. The annual water equivalent in precipitation is generally between 50-250mm, with decreasing values as the distance inland is increased. There is life along the continental coast, but its abundance is severely limited by the harsh coastal conditions that persist for much of the year. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 0°C.

The Antarctic interior region starts approximately 200km inland. With annual water equivalent in precipitation of less than 50mm, it is technically a desert. The interior generally has very high elevations as it is made up of the surfaces of thick ice sheets and mountaintops. High altitude and continuous darkness in the winter months result in exceptionally cold temperatures averaging well below -60°C. During the summer months when there is continuous daylight, temperatures rarely exceed -20°C. The interior of the Antarctic is the coldest place on earth for much of the year. During the winter, air rapidly cools over the ice sheets and flows outward towards the coasts. The rotation of the earth deflects these winds in a counter-clockwise motion as they disperse from the interior, and they generate high velocities when they rapidly descend at the coast. These are called the Katabatic winds. They last practically all winter, however their frequency diminishes in the summer. Unbelievable as it may sound, there is flora and fauna in the interior, but in very simple forms such as algae and nematodes.