Antarctica & South Georgia

From a scientific point of view the word 'Antarctica' is applied to the oceanographic and biological boundary formed by the Antarctic convergence, which is the natural boundary between the relatively warm subantarctic surface water and the cold Antarctic surface water.

More generally 'The Antarctic' means the continent of Antarctica, with its surrounding ice shelves, islands and seas. It is the fifth largest continent, and largest wilderness area on earth. Most of its area is made up of a vast permanent ice sheet, with only about two percent of the total land mass visible as mountains and coastlines.

South Georgia is a UK Dependent Territory situated within the Antarctic convergence at around 54 degrees latitude. It is an ice capped mountainous island around 160 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, with 12 of its mountains above 1800 metres and more than 160 glaciers.