It is Earth 's southernmost continent It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and is surroun ded by the Southern Ocean At 14,200,000 square kilometres (5,500,000 square miles), it is the fifth largest continent and nearly twice the size of Australia At 0.00008 people per square kilometre, it is by far the least densely populated continent.

About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi; 6,200 ft) in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula

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