Where is the south pole located

Earth Science, Geologic Time & Fossils

Written and fact-checked by

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.

Which country is closest to the South Pole?

The nearest countries to Antarctica are South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina.

Where in Antarctica is the South Pole?

While the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice.

Who owns South Pole?

The South Pole is claimed by seven nations: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The tent at the right is a replica of the tent used by Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach the South Pole.

Has anyone been born Antarctica?

Eleven babies have been born in Antarctica, and none of them died as infants. Antarctica therefore has the lowest infant mortality rate of any continent: 0%. What’s crazier is why the babies were born there in the first place. These weren’t unplanned births.

Can we go to South Pole?

The Short Answer: Both the Arctic (North Pole) and the Antarctic (South Pole) are cold because they don’t get any direct sunlight. However, the South Pole is a lot colder than the North Pole.

What country is North Pole in?

The North Pole is found in the Arctic Ocean, on constantly shifting pieces of sea ice. The North Pole is not part of any nation, although Russia placed a titanium flag on the seabed in 2007. The North Pole is the northernmost point on Earth.

Why is going to Antarctica illegal?

Antarctica doesn’t belong to anyone. There is no single country that owns Antarctica. Instead, Antarctica is governed by a group of nations in a unique international partnership. The Antarctic Treaty, first signed on December 1, 1959, designates Antarctica as a continent devoted to peace and science.

Where does Penguin live?

Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. The greatest concentrations are on Antarctic coasts and sub-Antarctic islands. There are 18 species of penguins, 5 of which live in Antarctica. Another 4 species live on sub-Antarctic islands.

Can I live in Antarctica?

No-one lives in Antarctica indefinitely in the way that they do in the rest of the world. It has no commercial industries, no towns or cities, no permanent residents. The only “settlements” with longer term residents (who stay for some months or a year, maybe two) are scientific bases.

Has anyone been murdered in Antarctica?

Death is rare in Antarctica, but not unheard of. Many explorers perished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in their quests to reach the South Pole, and potentially hundreds of bodies remain frozen within the ice. In the modern era, more Antarctic fatalities are caused by freak accidents.

How cold is it in Antarctica?

Interesting facts About Antarctica

The South Pole is not the coldest place in Antarctica. The coldest temperature recorded in Antarctica was -89.6°C at Vostok station in 1983. The average winter temperature at the South Pole is about -49°C. Your home freezer is only about -15°C.

Is there WIFI in Antarctica?

The most commonly spoken language of Antarctica is Russian, which happens to be the official language of Bellingsgauzenia, New Devon, and Ognia. English is also one of the most widespread languages spoken. You can find English spoken in the Balleny Islands, New South Greenland, Eduarda, etc.

What do jobs in Antarctica pay?

McMurdo Station, Antarctica Jobs by Salary

Does Antarctica have Netflix?

Antarctica residents can access 815 videos, which includes 562 movies and 253 series, the net resource states. But Antarctica is still far behind the countries with the greatest Netflix catalogues; leading the pack is the United States where Netflix was born.

This article is about the Geographic South Pole. For other uses, see South Pole (disambiguation).

The Geographic South Pole is marked by the stake on the right.

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where Earth’s axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of Earth and lies on the opposite side of Earth from the North Pole.

Situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of the United States Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. The Geographic South Pole is distinct from the South Magnetic Pole, the position of which is defined based on Earth’s magnetic field. The South Pole is at the centre of the .

For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the southern point of the two points where Earth’s axis of rotation intersects its surface (the other being the Geographic North Pole). However, Earth’s axis of rotation is actually subject to very small «wobbles» (), so this definition is not adequate for very precise work.

The of the South Pole are usually given simply as 90°S, since its longitude is geometrically undefined and irrelevant. When a longitude is desired, it may be given as

Ceremonial South Pole

See also: History of Antarctica, List of Antarctic expeditions, Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and

The first men to reach the Geographic South Pole were the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his party on December 14, 1911. Amundsen named his camp and the entire plateau surrounding the Pole King Haakon VII Vidde in honour of King Haakon VII of Norway. Robert Falcon Scott returned to Antarctica with his second expedition, the Terra Nova Expedition, initially unaware of Amundsen’s secretive expedition. Scott and four other men reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912, thirty-four days after Amundsen. On the return trip, Scott and his four companions all died of starvation and extreme cold.

In 1914 Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set out with the goal of crossing Antarctica via the South Pole, but his ship, the , was frozen in and sank 11 months later. The overland journey was never made.

US Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, with the assistance of his first pilot , became the first person to fly over the South Pole on November 29, 1929.

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. The ceremonial pole and flags can be seen in the background, slightly to the left of centre, below the tracks behind the buildings. The actual geographic pole is a few more metres to the left. The buildings are raised on stilts to prevent snow build-up.

Subsequent to the establishment, in 1987, of the logistic support base at Patriot Hills Base Camp, the South Pole became more accessible to non-government expeditions.

See also: Climate of Antarctica, , and

In most places on Earth, local time is determined by , such that the time of day is more-or-less synchronised to the position of the sun in the sky (for example, at midday the sun is roughly at its highest). This line of reasoning fails at the South Pole, where the sun rises and sets only once per year, and all lines of longitude, and hence all time zones, converge. There is no reason for placing the South Pole in any particular time zone, but as a matter of practical convenience the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station keeps New Zealand Time (UTC+12/UTC+13). This is because the US flies its resupply missions («Operation Deep Freeze») out of , which is supplied from , New Zealand.

Template:Historic Sites and Monuments in Antarctica

The is the southernmost point on Earth. It is the precise point of the southern intersection of Earth’s and Earth’s surface.

From the South Pole, all directions are north. Its is 90 degrees south, and all lines of meet there (as well as at the ).

The South Pole is located on , one of Earth’s seven . Although land at the South Pole is only about a hundred meters above , the above it is roughly 2,700-meters (9,000-feet) thick. This makes the South Pole much colder than the North Pole, which sits in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. In fact, the warmest ever recorded at the South Pole was a freezing -12.3 degrees Celsius (9.9 degrees Fahrenheit).

The South Pole is close to the coldest place on Earth. The coldest temperature recorded at the South Pole, -82.8 degrees Celsius (-117.0 degrees Fahrenheit), is still warmer than the coldest temperature ever recorded, -89.2 degrees Celsius (-128.6 degrees Fahrenheit). That temperature was recorded at the Russian Vostok , about 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) away.

Because Earth rotates on a tilted axis as it revolves around the sun, sunlight is experienced in extremes at the poles. In fact, the South Pole experiences only one sunrise (at the September ) and one sunset (at the March equinox) every year. From the South Pole, the sun is always above the in the summer and below the horizon in the winter. This means the region experiences up to 24 hours of sunlight in the summer and 24 hours of darkness in the winter.

Due to , the exact location of the South Pole is constantly moving. Plate tectonics is the process of large slabs of Earth’s moving slowly around the planet, bumping into and pulling apart from one another.

Over billions of years, Earth’s continents have shifted together and drifted apart. Millions of years ago, land that today is the east coast of South America was at the South Pole. Today, the ice sheet above the South Pole drifts about 10 meters (33 feet) every year.

Amundsen–Scott South Pole StationCompared to the North Pole, the South Pole is relatively easy to travel to and study. The North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, while the South Pole is on a stable piece of land.

The United States has had scientists working at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station since 1956. Between 50 and 200 scientists and support staff live at the this research station at any given time. The station itself does not sit on the ground or ice sheet. It is able to adjust its elevation, to prevent it from being buried in snow, which at a rate of about 20 centimeters (eight inches) every year, and does not melt.

In the winter, the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is completely . The dark sky, freezing temperatures, and -force winds prevent most supplies from being flown or trekked in. All food, medical supplies, and other material must be secured before the long Antarctic winter. The station’s energy is provided by three enormous that run on jet fuel.

In winter, stores of food are supplemented by the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station’s greenhouse. Vegetables in the greenhouse are grown with , in a nutrient solution instead of soil.

Some of the earliest discoveries made at South Pole research stations helped support the theory of , the idea that continents drift apart and shift together. Rock samples collected near the South Pole and throughout Antarctica match samples dated to the same time period collected at latitudes. conclude that the samples formed at the same time and the same place, and were torn apart over millions of years, as the planet split into different continents.

Today, the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is host to a wide variety of research. The relatively undisturbed ice sheet maintains a record of snowfalls, air quality, and patterns. provide for glaciologists, climatologists, and , as well as scientists tracking patterns in .

The South Pole has low temperatures and and high elevation, making it an outstanding place to study astronomy and . The South Pole Telescope studies low-frequency , such as microwaves and . The South Pole Telescope is one of the instruments designed measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB)–faint, radiation left over from the .

Astrophysicists also search for tiny particles called at the South Pole. Neutrinos interact very, very weakly with all other matter. Neutrino detectors therefore must be very large to detect a measurable number of the particles. The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station’s IceCube Neutrino Detector has more than 80 «strings» of sensors reaching as deep as 2,450 meters (8,038 feet) beneath the ice. It is the largest neutrino detector in the world.

Ecosystems at the South PoleAlthough the Antarctic coast is teeming with marine life, few biologists conduct research at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. The is far too harsh for most organisms to survive.

In fact, the South Pole sits in the middle of the largest, coldest, driest, and windiest on Earth. More temperate parts of this desert (called either East Antarctica or Maudlandia) support native flora such as moss and lichen, and organisms such as mites and midges. The South Pole itself has no native plant or animal life at all. Sometimes, however, seabirds such as can be spotted if they are blown off-course.

ExplorationThe early 20th century’s «Race to the Pole» stands as a symbol of the nature of polar exploration.

European and American explorers had attempted to reach the South Pole since British Capt. Robert Falcon Scott’s of 1904. Scott, along with fellow Antarctic explorers and Edward Wilson, came within 660 kilometers (410 miles) of the pole, but turned back due to weather and inadequate supplies.

Shackleton and Scott were determined to reach the pole. Scott worked with scientists, intent on using the best techniques to gather data and collect samples.

Shackleton also conducted scientific surveys, although his expeditions were more narrowly focused on reaching the South Pole. He came within 160 kilometers (100 miles) of the pole in 1907, but again had to turn back due to weather.

Scott gathered public support and public funding for his 1910 Terra Nova expedition. He secured and scientific equipment. In addition to the sailors and scientists on his team, the Terra Nova expedition also included —guests who helped finance the voyage in exchange for taking part in it.

Amundsen was apparently racing for the pole, ahead of Scott, but had kept all preparation secret. His ambition, to be the first to reach the North Pole, had been by American explorers Frederick Cook and , both of whom claimed to reach the North Pole first. (Both claims are now disputed, and Amundsen’s flight over the North Pole is generally recognized as the first verified journey there.)

The Terra Nova and Fram expeditions arrived in Antarctica about the same time, in the middle of the Antarctic summer (January). They set up base camps about 640 kilometers (400 miles) apart. As they proceeded south, both expeditions established resupply depots with supplies for their return journey. While Scott’s team stuck to a forged by Shackleton years earlier, Amundsen took a new route.

Scott proceeded with scientific and expeditionary equipment hauled by dogs, ponies, and motor sledges. The motorized equipment soon broke down, and the ponies could not adapt to the harsh Antarctic climate. Even the sled dogs became weary. All the ponies died, and most members of the expedition turned back. Only four men from the Terra Nova expedition (including Scott’s friend Wilson) proceeded with Scott to the pole.

Amundsen traveled by , with a team of explorers, skiers, and . The foresight and paid off: Amundsen reached the pole in December 1911. He called the camp Polheim, and the entire Fram expedition successfully returned to their resupply depots, ship, and Norway.

More than a month later, Scott reached the South Pole, only to be met by Amundsen’s camp—he had left a tent, equipment, and supplies for Scott, as well as a note for the King of Norway to be delivered if the Fram expedition failed to make it back.

Disheartened, Scott’s team slowly headed back north. They faced colder temperatures and harsher weather than Amundsen’s team. They had fewer supplies. Suffering from hunger, , and , all members of Scott’s South Pole expedition died fewer than 18 kilometers (11 miles) from a resupply depot.

American explorer Richard E. Byrd became the first person to fly over the South Pole, in 1926, and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station was established 30 years later.

However, the next overland expedition to the South Pole was not made until 1958, more than 40 years after Amundsen and Scott’s deadly race. The 1958 expedition was led by legendary New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, who had become the first person to scale Mount Everest in 1953.

Transportation to the South PoleAlmost all scientists and support personnel, as well as supplies, are flown in to the South Pole. Hardy aircraft usually fly from McMurdo Station, an American facility on the Antarctic coast and the most populated area on the continent. The extreme and unpredictable weather around the pole can often delay flights.

In 2009, the U.S. completed construction of the South Pole Traverse. Also called the McMurdo-South Pole Highway, this stretch of unpaved road runs more than 1,600 kilometers (995 miles) over the Antarctic ice sheet, from McMurdo Station to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. It takes about 40 days for supplies to reach the pole from McMurdo, but the route is far more reliable and inexpensive than air flights. The highway can also supply much heavier equipment (such as that needed by the South Pole’s astrophysics laboratories) than aircraft.

Resources and Territorial ClaimsThe entire continent of Antarctica has no official political boundaries, although many nations and territories claim land there. The South Pole is claimed by seven nations: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Cold and Lonely HighwayThe South Pole Traverse is not paved. The highway was created by filling in deep crevasses in the Antarctic ice sheet. The only vehicles on the highway are specialized tractors equipped with specialized towing sleds.

Tradition of HorrorThe few «winter-overs» at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station have an annual tradition. After the last supply plane has left the facility (not to return for six months), they watch two movies: The Thing (about a parasitic alien being terrorizing an Antarctic research facility) and The Shining (about a caretaker isolated at a remote hotel in the winter).

No Time at the PolesTime is calculated using longitude. For instance, when the sun seems directly overhead, the local time is about noon. However, all lines of longitude meet at the poles, and the sun is only overhead twice a year (at the equinoxes.) For this reason, scientists and explorers at the poles record time-related data using whatever time zone they want.