Antarctic Peninsula (detail),
Antarctica

Lying at the northwestern tip of Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula was the fastest-warming place on Earth In the second half of the 20th century.
Most of Antarctica is covered in ice. The Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km, contains about 90% of the world's ice. If all of this ice were to melt, global sea levels would rise about 58 meters. Furthermore, Antarctica stores around 70% of global freshwater as ice.

The 1959 Antarctic Treaty System, through which around 30 countries govern Antarctica, bans mining and military & nuclear activity. Despite this - and the continent's remoteness -  human activity is having a significant impact on the continent via pollution, ozone depletion and climate change.

Approx area depicted: 10,000 km2
Date of image: 2020