Southernmost settlements
There are many research stations in Antarctica, both permanent and summer only. Many of the stations are staffed all year. McMurdo Station is the largest with an average population of 1200.
Antarctica
Antarctica is home to more than 70 lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet. Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station in 1996, is the largest of these subglacial lakes. It was once believed that the lake had been sealed off for 500,000 to one million years, but a recent survey suggests that, every so often, there are large flows of water from one lake to another.