Antarctica is the coldest continent in the world ,lying in south of the Antarctic Circle and it’s covered with snow nearly all around the year . Speculation over the existence of a “southern land” was not confirmed until the early 1820s when British and American commercial operators and British and Russian national expeditions began exploring the Antarctic Peninsula region and other areas south of the Antarctic Circle . Not until 1840 was it established that Antarctic was indeed a continent and not just a group of islands . Several exploration “firsts” were achieved in the early 20th century . With an area of 13 200 000 km2 , Antarctic is the fifth largest continent ，after Asia ,Africa ,North America ,and South America . However ,it is by far the smallest i population :indeed ,it has no permanent population at all , but a number of governments maintain permanent research stations throughout the continent . Many of the stations are staffed around the year . It is also the continent with the highest average altitude , and the lowest average humidity of any continent on Earth , as well as the lowest average temperature .
南极洲是地球最南端也是世界上最冷的大陆，几乎全年有冰雪覆盖，数百年来，为征服南极洲，揭开的它的神秘面纱，数以千计的探险家，前仆后继，奔赴南极洲。1820年11月18日，
美国的帕默乘“英雄”号单桅纵帆船，发现了奥尔良海峡和后来证实为从南极大陆延伸出来的南极半岛的西北岸。南极洲探险，在1820-183011月英文年间趋于白热化。1821年俄国别林斯高晋和拉扎列夫率领的探险队，乘“东方”号和“和平”号环南极大陆一周，发现了亚历山大一世岛，别林斯高晋当时把它命名为亚历山大一世海岸。南极洲的总面积13 200 000平方公里，是继亚洲，非洲，北美洲，南美洲后世界上的第五大洲，也是世界上人口最稀少的一个大洲，没有常住人口，仅有一些来自其他大洲的科学考察人员和捕鲸人员。南极洲气候异常寒冷，中年冰雪覆盖。全洲年平均气温为零下25℃，是世界上平均气温最低的地区。绝大部分地区降水量不足250毫米，水汽少，但是因为气温长年在零度以下，所以积雪，积冰不化，有“白沙漠”之称。