Why Antarctica Is The Coldest Place On Earth

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Antarctica is the coldest place on earth, with temperatures at an average of -49°C, and it rarely ever gets above freezing. The reason why the Antarctic is so cold is because sunlight has to go through a thicker atmosphere to hit it as Earth is on an angle which also means the light rays are spread over a larger area than if they were hitting Antarctica directly. This means light is spread over a larger area thus not warming as much as it could.
When sunlight does eventually meet Antarctica, a lot of the rays are bounced off due to the Antarctic being made of very reflective, shiny white ice, and there are no clouds to trap any of the reflected heat. There are no clouds because the environment is so cold, and any water vapour instantly freezes. …show more content…

For every 1 knot of wind speed, the temperature is reduced by 1°C which makes the makes the already freezing temperatures even lower, and also makes Antarctica the windiest continent on earth. 

Since the Earth is spinning tilted on an angle, Antarctica is either in constant sunlight, or constant darkness, making it only have two seasons: summer or winter. It is always dark in winter because Antarctica is on the side of the Earth which is spinning tilted away from the sun but it is the opposite in summer, Antarctica is tilted towards the sun so it is always sunny.
Since winter is in constant darkness, it is a lot colder as no sunlight is present to warm the continent, which means every animal living there has to have an adaption to help them live during the colder winters.

Animals first came to Antarctica for the extensive food supply, which were brought up by upwellings in the ocean which brought nutrients to the surface. This fed the fish there and attracting more due to their food supply, therefore attracted more animals due to the amount of fish. Every animal that lives there now had to adept to these extreme conditions, including the Emperor

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