Why Is Antarctica An Uninhabited Continent?

Why Is Antarctica An Uninhabited Continent?

Short fact, continents around the world starts and ends with the same letter, like Asia, Australia, Africa, North and South America and of course our topic Antarctica. Amazing isn’t it? Amongst all the continents, the most unique of them all is Antarctica and the fifth biggest.

Antarctica’s geographical location is in the south pole of the world. It is in the southern part of the Antarctic region. It is considered a desert but with a cold climate that ranges from -129ºF as its coldest and + 59ºF for the warmest temperature ever recorded in history. The place is characterized in extreme dryness, iciest and windiest continent. Among all the continents, it has the highest average elevation which contributes a lot to the colder temperature.

With these climate conditions, Antarctica is considered as the most uninhabited continent but not totally uninhabited. Why is this? Antarctica has two climates or season which is winter and summer. Summer months temperature would range from -5 to -31ºF, while the winter months would range from -40 to -94ºF. During the summer months starting November to March, these are the only months wherein scientists or exchange students or temporary settlers live in Antarctica for reasons of study and experiments. It is understandable that the summer months are the opposite of ours because it is situated in the southern hemisphere.

With this, it goes to show that there are no permanent residents in Antarctica and based on statistical records, the average number of people who lives there, ranges from 1,000 to 5,000. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive this place and these are; penguins, seals, nematodes, mites, types of algae and tundra vegetation. The lack of resources for daily survival makes Antarctica uninhabited in most of the times in a year with the climate as the major factor for human life and plants not to survive.