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Antarctica

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More than twenty countries operate year-round scientific research stations in Antarctica that house roughly 1,100 researchers in the winter and about 4,400 researchers in the summer.
A Chinstrap penguin rookery in Antarctica. These penguins derive their name from the narrow black band under their heads that makes it appear as if they are wearing black helmets. They build a circular nest with stones and lay two eggs.
Gentoo penguins nesting in Antarctica. The distinguishing feature of these penguins is the wide white stripe across the top of the head that in some ways resembles a bonnet.
Adelie penguins at Brown Bluff at the end of the Tabarin Peninsula in Antarctica.
LeMaire Channel between Booth Island and the Antarctic Peninsula.
The blue ice covering Lake Fryxell, in the Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica, comes from glacial meltwater from the Canada Glacier and other smaller glaciers. Image courtesy of National Science Foundation.
A view of McMurdo Station, a US Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island that is operated by the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting some 1,250 residents and serves as one of three year-round US Antarctic science facilities. Image courtesy of Gaelen Marsden, University of British Columbia.
The aurora australis — the Southern Lights — as seen over the National Science Foundation's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. The eerie visual effect arises when charged particles blown off by the sun (the solar wind) are caught in the Earth's magnetic field and travel along the field lines, colliding with molecules of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. Image courtesy of the National Science Foundation, Jonathan Berry.
Sea ice is seen out the window of NASA's DC-8 research aircraft as it flies 600 m (2,000 ft) above the Bellingshausen Sea in West Antarctica. Photo courtesy of NASA.
Antarctica is home to the emperor penguin (pictured), the largest of the 18 species of penguins. Standing 120cm (3.9ft), emperor penguins are the world’s deepest-diving birds and can dive approximately 550 m (1,800 ft) in search of food and remain underwater for nearly 22 minutes. The penguin colonies are found on ice shelves and land ice along the coast of Antarctica. The emperor penguin is also the only species where the male is responsible for the incubation of the egg.
A newly tagged Weddell seal pup rests with its mom. Weddell seals are one of the most abundant seals in Antarctica and are found on all shores of the continent. Photo courtesy of the US Geologic Survey/ William A. Link.
Mount Erebus is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley) and the southernmost active volcano on earth; it has been active since about 1.3 million years ago. The volcano was discovered on 27 January 1841 by an expedition led by polar explorer Sir James Clark Ross, who named it after one of his ships, the HMS Erebus.
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