Puffball Islands (Puffball Islands)
Puffball Islands (°N, °W) is a scattered group of small, low, mainly ice-covered islands and rocks which extend about 10 nautical miles (18 km) in a NE-SW direction, lying in southern Marguerite Bay off the west coast of Antarctic Peninsula. The center of the group lies 23 nautical miles (43 km) north-northeast of Cape Jeremy. First visited and surveyed in 1948 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS). The name, applied by FIDS, derives from association with Mushroom Island which lies 14 nautical miles (26 km) northeast of this group.
* List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
* List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
Map - Puffball Islands (Puffball Islands)
Map
Country - Antarctica
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14200000 km2. Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km.
Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 m. Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 C. The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 C in summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss.
Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 m. Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 C. The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 C in summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss.