"The polar plateau" Antarctica Things to Do Tip by XenoHumph

Antarctica Things to Do: 500 reviews and 985 photos

Picture: Antarctic Polar Plateau. Towards the way I am pointing lies thousand of miles of ice until you reach the other side of Antarctica.

Antarctica is covered by a thick sheet of ice (more than 2 kilometer thick at places) called the Polar Plateau. Experiencing the plateau is just seeing flat ice as far as the eye can see. The elevation is more than 2000 m high (6560 feet). So combined with the thin atmosphere of the poles, elevation tiredness can be felt during any physical activity. It is swept by high winds (katabatic winds) and characterized by low temperatures (-20 to -30ºC typical in the summer, plus the wind factor). It is a desert with hardly any precipitation. It has its own beauty with snow dunes sculpted in ridges called sastrugi, patches of blue ice, and an immense sky.

Directions: In the middle of the Antarctic continent.

Review Helpfulness: 2.5 out of 5 stars