Satellite Images of Antarctica – “World’s Last Great Wilderness”
Landsat Satellite Image (15m) – Antarctica
To view satellite image in full resolution click on image.
(Image Credit © NASA and Courtesy of Satellite Imaging Corporation)
More than a thousand satellite image scenes captured of Antarctica during a seven year observation have created this visually stunning true-color Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) by NASA, USGS, National Science Foundation (NSF) and British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The virtually cloudless satellite view of Antarctica’s frozen landscape provides much greater detail for the entire continent than ever before.
It is a continent almost entirely buried by snow and ice. It is so hostile and remote that it has no permanent residents. Surrounded by the Southern Ocean, Antarctica covers nearly 9% of the Earth’s land, and is 25% bigger than Europe, making it the fifth largest continent. It is also the least polluted of all the continents.
Antarctica is divided into two main areas – East Antarctica (sometimes called Greater Antarctica), and West Antarctica (Lesser Antarctica) separated by the Transantarctic Mountains that stretch 3,540 kilometres across the continent. West Antarctica is the smallest of the two and has a peninsula that sticks out nearly 1,000 kilometres from the South Pole towards the southern tip of South America.
About 99% of Antarctica is covered with a vast ice sheet. It is the largest single mass of ice on Earth and is bigger than the whole of Europe. At least 3 million years old (and possibly as much as 30 million years old in places), the ice sheet averages 2,450 metres deep and holds about 70% of the world’s fresh water. With such a thick layer of ice, Antarctica is the highest of all the continents. The average altitude is about 2,300 metres above sea level, although in places, the bottom of the ice can be as much as 3,000m below sea level. If they weren’t filled with ice, large parts of Antarctica would be under the sea. Vinson Massif is Antarctica’s highest point, rising to a height of 4,897 metres. For more information on Antarctica, visit here.
To view a 360 degree panoramic view of Antarctica, visit here.
