Travel

Although several countries have laid claim to various portions of Antarctica, it is governed by the 1958 Antarctic Treaty, which establishes the continent as a peaceful and cooperative international research zone. There are no cities per se, just some two dozen research stations with a total population ranging from 1000-4000 depending on the time of year. These are maintained for scientific purposes only, and do not provide any official support for tourism. The laws of the nation operating each research station apply there.

Private travel to Antarctica generally takes one of three forms:

1. commercial sea voyages with shore visits (by far the most popular)
2. specially mounted land expeditions, or
3. sightseeing by air.

Approximately 80 companies belong to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. a membership organization which regulates non-research travel to the region. In the 2005-2006 summer season, an estimated 26,250 people visited Antarctica or the surrounding waters.

Antarctica is notable for being the only continent with no significant land plant life and no native land mammals, reptiles, or amphibians. (There are no polar bears; they are only at the North Pole.) However its shoreline serves as nesting ground for many species of migratory birds and penguins, and the Southern Ocean surrounding it is home to many fish and marine mammals, including whales.

Don't be fooled by all the ice: Antarctica is a desert. The region's moisture is all tied up in frigid seawater and the huge sheets, shelves, and packs of ice which cover nearly all of the continent plus surrounding waters. There is little snowfall here, and even less rain.

For tourists, Antarctica is accessible only during the austral summer season from November to March. during which sea ice melts enough to allow access, coastal temperatures can rise up to highs of 14°C (57°F) and there are twenty four hours of daylight. During the winter the sea is impassable. Temperatures can fall to -40°C/F and there are twenty four hours of darkness.

The above temperatures apply to the islands and coastal regions that tourists ordinarily visit. Temperatures in the interior, such as the South Pole. are far harsher, with summer highs of around -15°C (5°F) and winter lows plummeting to -80°C (-112°F).

For most people, reading about Antarctica is the only affordable means of experiencing the continent. Books range from wild works of fiction to non-fiction accounts of the extraordinary early missions of adventurers looking to conquer Earth's last land frontier.

• At the Mountains of Madness the earliest science fiction/horror story to take place on the continent, written by H.P. Lovecraft, detailing the adventures of a geological expedition to Antarctic Mountains, where the researchers discover something so inconceivable that they lose their minds
• The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, by Edgar Allen Poe
• Antarctica, by Kim Stanley Robinson Science Fiction account of 21st century Antarctica and the impact of global warming.
• Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing
• Endurance, by Caroline Alexander
• A First-Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott the Race to the South Pole, by Diana Preston
• Mawson's Will, by Lennard Bickel
• North Pole, South Pole: Journeys to the Ends of the Earth, by Bertrand Imbert
• Scott's Last Expedition: The Journals, by Robert F. Scott and Beryl Bainbridge
• Shackleton, by Roland Huntford
• South Pole: 900 Miles on Foot, by Gareth Wood and Eric Jamieson
• The Worst Journey in the World, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
• Terra Incognita, by Sara Wheeler
• South, by Ernest Shackleton
• The Loneliest Continent, by Walker Chapman
• The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, by Kelly Tyler-Lewis