The sound of bubbles can be heard near the iceberg. An iceberg is a section of glaciers in which trapped air bubbles have been compressed by the pressure of the ice. When such ice begins to melt below the surface of the water, the air bubbles are released, expanding rapidly in the process. The effect is similar to dissolving an effervescent tablet in water and is called “Bergie Seltzer” by polar explorers, by analogy to the popular Alka Seltzer tablets. ¹⁾

Standing at the South Pole, we cannot look east, west, or south. At the South Pole, every direction is north. ²⁾

At the Amundsen-Scott Polar Station, buildings stand on stilts to keep them from being buried by snow. For many years, the main problem for the residents of the polar station was the snow that quickly accumulated on the walls of all the buildings erected, and which constantly had to be removed. ³⁾

Queen Maud Land was discovered in January 1930 by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen and Finn Lützow-Holm, during the expedition of the ship Norvegia. It was named after the Norwegian Queen Maud, wife of the then reigning King Haakon VII. ⁴⁾

On December 8, 2013, Metallica played a concert in Antarctica for over an hour, entitled “Freez 'Em All”. With this concert, Metallica managed to accomplish quite a feat: they played on every continent in the world in 2013. The achievement was recognized in the 60th edition of the Guinness Book of Records. ⁵⁾

There are no land mammals in Antarctica. ⁶⁾

The valleys of Antarctica are the driest place on Earth, with low humidity and almost no snow or ice cover. ⁷⁾

Of the total 5.4 million square miles in Antarctica, nearly 98% is covered by layers of ice. ⁸⁾

Wells Fargo Bank provided the only ATM bank in Antarctica to McMurdo Station. ⁹⁾

Antarctica has no official time zone. ¹⁰⁾

The directive prohibits any activity of a military nature on the continent. ¹¹⁾

The Eskimo and the polar bear are not native to Antarctica but to the Arctic. ¹²⁾

Much of East Antarctica receives only a few inches of rain per year. This is very comparable to what happens in the Sahara desert. ¹³⁾

The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is the largest. ¹⁴⁾

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent. ¹⁵⁾

Fish in Antarctica lack the red pigment hemoglobin. ¹⁶⁾

The Antarctic Ice Marathon is an annual marathon and the run takes place on a sheet of ice in the shadow of the Ellsworth Mountains, just a few hundred miles from the South Pole. ¹⁷⁾

If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt, it would raise global sea levels by about 5 meters. ¹⁸⁾