The only continent without any countries or government, wind-
swept Antarctica is a land of superlatives; it’s the coldest,
driest, and highest place on earth. Antarctica owes its high
average altitude to the two-mile thick ice sheet that covers 98%
of the continent. Surrounded by the Southern Ocean, most of
Antarctica lies south of the Antarctic Circle, which means that
there’s 24 hours of daylight during the summer and 24 hours of
darkness in winter. Antarctica has no official time zones.
Clocks there are set to match the time at the most convenient
supply station. The continent of Antarctica is home to penguins,
seals, sea birds, mosses, lichen, and algae. Although it’s forty
percent larger than the United States, Antarctica has a
permanent human population of zero. A temporary population of
thousands consists mainly of support personnel, technicians, and
research scientists including biologists, geologists,
meteorologists, and astronomers. No one country owns Antarctica.
It’s governed by an international A