Total area14.2 trillion m²
235 trillionSheets of paper
8.5 billionHockey rink areas
About 14.2 million square km -- larger than Europe
Photo by Jay Ruzesky on Unsplash
Antarctica
Earth's frozen giant at the bottom of the world/Landforms
Antarctica contains about 70% of all freshwater on Earth, locked in an ice sheet that averages over two kilometers thick. It is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent -- the interior receives less precipitation than the Sahara, making it technically a desert. If the ice sheet melted entirely, global sea levels would rise by about 58 meters.
Measurements
Ice sheet mass26.5 quintillion kg
146 quintillionApples
5.3 quadrillionShip anchors
26.5 sextillionPaperclips
About 26.5 million gigatonnes of ice
Average ice thickness2,160 m
2,400Arming swords
29,589Lipstick tubes
3,600Dachshunds
Over 2 km of ice on average; up to 4,776 m at the thickest point
Lowest recorded temperature184 K
2.6 tenthsPizza ovens
2.1 tenthsCampfires
Minus 89.2 degrees C at Vostok Station on July 21, 1983
Average annual temperature218 K
1.2 tenthsMolten steel pours
7.4 tenthsRoom temperatures
6.1 tenthsSaunas
About minus 55 degrees C in the interior
Maximum ice thickness4,776 m
1.1 quadrillionthsCarina Nebula widths
238,800Grape diameters
5.77Burj Khalifas
At Astrolabe Subglacial Basin in East Antarctica
Record wind speed89 m/s
223 millionthsSolar winds
2.4 tenths9mm bullets
8.2 tenthsPeregrine falcons
About 320 km/h; katabatic winds make it the windiest continent
Ice volume26.5 quadrillion m³
530 sextillionEyedrops
4.1 sextillionHuman eyeballs
About 26.5 million cubic km of ice