Antarctica

Ice slabs are often covered with gunny bags to insulate them and slow down the melting process. The gunny bags help retain the cold by providing a barrier against warmer air and sunlight. Additionally, they can absorb moisture, reducing the risk of melting caused by condensation. This practice is especially common in warmer climates or during transportation to keep the ice intact for longer periods.

Every country on earth is due north of Antarctica.

The land to which the Ross Ice Shelf is attached on three sides is the Antarctic continent.

You could not make snowballs from ice of any kind ... or not good snowballs anyway.

The South Pole is at 90 degrees S latitude. The North Pole is at 90 degrees N latitude. All lines of longitude converge at both poles.

The Prime Meridian and the International Date Line also meet at the poles.

Yes.

The coldest temperature recorded on earth was recorded in Antarctica, at Vostok Station, which lies farthest from any ocean.

The crash occurred on 28 November 1979. It killed 237 passengers and 20 crew, and became known as the Mount Erebus disaster.

None.

Antarctica is the southern-most continent on earth.

Antarctica is a continent -- 98% of which is covered by an ice sheet. Continents are composed of 'rock'. As to why -- this is a mystery best answered the same way it wold be answered for all continents on earth.

The concept of cities in Antarctica is different than the concept elsewhere in the world.

For one thing, each Antarctican city has its own unique design. It is hard to imagine someone strolling through a city in Antarctica and not immediately knowing which of the cities they are in, based solely on the architecture.

For another, there are no streets in Antarctican cities. People get from one area to another either by walking along the boulevards and forest paths, or calling upon their flyer to drop them off at their next destination.

Because the people of Antarctica handle much of their own needs through home-based technology, most of the buildings in Antarctican cities are devoted to the arts and sciences, private residences, and a generous representation of restaurants, rather than commerce (office buildings, as that term is understood elsewhere in the world, make up less than ten percent of city structures). Antarctican cities also contain an unusually large amount of space set aside for parks and natural habitats. No matter where you are in an Antarctican city, you are never more than a five minute walk from a small forest, or a ten minute walk from a waterfall.

In addition to the hundreds of small cities, townships and villages within the continent, there are seven major metropolises. The scope of this article is limited to a brief description of each of those seven. Anyone curious to know greater details about these seven, or information on Antarctica's hundreds of charming smaller municipalities, is urged to contact the nearest Antarctican embassy. (Please see Tourism for a complete list of embassies and their locations).

All visitors to Antarctica arrive first in the oceanside city of Delphia, located on Antarctica's southern shore. The city is famous for its magnificent blue and green bays, which stretch all the way within the city itself. Nearly all structures in Delphia are built of gray granite, so that after a fresh rain the city glistens like a seal. Hot air ballooning is a popular pastime, and in fact there are some families and individuals whose homes are kept aloft by balloons year-round. In addition to its extensive collection of libraries, Delphia is also known for its restaurants, such as the Irunijef, which stretches across seven city blocks, serving hundreds of different seafood dishes.

Dell, on the eastern shore of the continent, is built around its miles of white beaches. Because many of the beaches extend into the city itself, it is not unusual, strolling the boulevards to get from one building to the next, to spot whales surfacing, and dolphins leaping, in the adjacent coves. In addition to its reputation for some of the finest museums in Antarctica, Dell is also known for its extensive space exploration complex, which has been in operation since the mid-eighteen hundreds.

One of the most unusual cities in Antarctica is Faz, a massive underground city in northern Antarctica. Faz consists entirely of underground caverns, some eighty stories high, carved by water over millions of years. The caverns themselves are comprised of a highly reflective form of rose quartz, so that the entire city can be illuminated by a single candle placed near the entrance (but away from drafts). At seven o'clock each evening, the candle's light is puffed out. Faz is best known for its research facilities, and the awe-inspiring Heart of Waterfalls located in the center of the underground city, where one hundred and thirty-six different waterfalls of various heights (some as tall as a skyscraper) tumble ceaselessly down into a blue pool fifty miles in diameter. Visitors also usually take time to explore the extensive moss forest tucked into the eastern corner of the city.

The oldest city in Antarctica, and also the seat of the "government" of Antarctica, such as it is, is the city of Urdz, located on the northern shore. Urdz is home to the Great Hall, the most ancient man-built structure in Antarctica, dating back 40,000 years. The buildings in the city are comprised entirely of red quartz and blue glaciers. Urdz is the largest producer of roses in the nation, with over 10,000 varieties, including 100 different species of pure blues.

At least once in each Antarctican's lifetime, a pilgrimage is made to Mimosa, on the western shore of Antarctica, site of the continent's only battle, in 1403 B.C., to repel foreign invaders. Mimosa is home to the world's largest sculpture, consisting of 620,000 intricately-carved life-sized statues which fill the bay, shoreline and hills. The city also offers an excellent example of a Fes, the circular area of common buildings often found in early Antarctican towns.

Suh, located halfway up the western peninsula of the continent, is composed entirely of huge statues in which its citizens live and work. The tallest of these, a tribute to Hal Felix, who conceived the notion of the Five Concepts, is eighteen stories high. The city is famous for its noodles, its huge population of elfs, a cat-like creature native to Antarctica, and its botanical research.

Squirbranchrel, in the northern forest, is the oldest and largest example of the original Antarctican communities, when the natives lived in trees (Antarcticans did not go through a cave-dwelling phase). Fifty miles wide, and thirty miles deep, the city is built entirely in the treetops of the region, its buildings connected to one another through an elaborate series of multi-level wooden bridges. Squirbranchrel boasts the continent's tallest skyscraper, measured from base to wooden observation deck, as well as the world's largest aquarium (twelve miles wide, eight miles deep, three miles high).

James Clark Ross in the Erebus and Terror, left England on their Antarctic voyage on the 5th of October, 1839. Ross and the Erebus landed in Hobart on August 16, 1840. On the 12th of November, 1840, Erebus and Terror left Hobart for the Antarctic. On January 22 Ross calculated that they had reached a higher latitude than James Weddell had in 1823 at 79 degrees 10 minutes South latitude.

There is no culture in Antarctica, because there are no native peoples and no nation states.

Antarctica is the highest, driest, darkest, windiest, coldest and iciest continent on earth. Those climate attributes effect everything.

Antarctica -- a condominium -- is governed by the Antarctic Treaty, which governs all land south of 60 degrees S.

The treaty preserves this land for the scientific study of the health of planet earth.

Technically yes, and technically no.

There are rats on the island of South Georgia, which is an island belonging to the content of Antarctica, however, great pains are being taken to prevent the from reaching the main land to prevent them from disrupting the fragile ecosystem.

Antarctica covers about 9% of the Earth's land surface, which is about 3% of the total surface, or about 14 million square kilometers. It is about as 1.5 times as big as the US.

Yes, the word 'Antarctica' is a noun; a proper noun, the name of a specific continent.

Because there's essentially no place to use currency on the continent -- no commercial enterprises, and because there is no sovereignty on the continent, there is no 'Antarctic currency'.

People may purchase items, however, that are for sale and the currency used is the currency of the transaction.

Emperor penguins are sea birds and live at sea, except during breeding season. During this season, Emperor penguins travel to Antarctic beach rookeries to mate, lay eggs, and tend to chicks until all can return to the sea.

Breeding season occurs during the August to November months, generally.

Antarctica is frigid because it does not receive as much heat from the sun as other parts of earth do, so it is colder. To be a desert you must have little to no rainfall, like Antarctica. Antarctica is like this because (as already mentioned) the sun doesn't give it much heat , so very little (if any) evaporation occurs. Without evaporation clouds do not form and no rainfall occurs. In normal deserts (hot deserts) their is no rain because their is no water in the deserts to evaporate, and winds do not carry clouds with rain to the deserts.
Antarctica is a desert because the ice is dried ice s o it doesn't water.