Antarctica is the coldest, windiest and most inhospitable continent in the world, which differs from the Arctic in being a land-based continent and in having no indigenous population. The Antarctica is unique in so many respects that is difficult to avoid superlatives in any description. It is the coldest, windiest, driest and most inhospitable continent in the world. The climate history of the world over thousands of years is found frozen into the Antarctic ice.

It is located between the latitudes of approximately 650S and 900S, and occupies almost all of the frigid zone between the Antarctic circle (670S) and the South Pole. The ice-bound continent is roughly circular in shape, unbroken by sea, and is surrounded by the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Only about 10% of Antarctica is free of ice. The average thickness of ice on the remaining 90% of the continent is 0.6-4.5 km and it is believed to have started forming at least (50x106) years ago. Antarctica in many ways is a scientific experimenters’ paradise.