22 Facts About West Antarctica

1. East West Antarctica is geologically varied, dating from the Precambrian era, with some rocks formed more than 3 billion years ago.

2. West Antarctica is not a country, and doesn't have a government.

3. West Antarctica is almost twice the size of Australia, about 1.3 times the size of Europe, and just less than one and a half times the size of the USA.

4. West Antarctica covers an area of 14 million square kilometres.

5. West Antarctica is an ice-covered continent that covers the southernmost part of the world.

6. East West Antarctica is so cold, high and dry, that it creates its own climate 7.

7. East West Antarctica makes up two-thirds of the continent, and is about the size of Australia.

8. East West Antarctica is a cold region with a ground base above sea level and occupies most of the continent.

9. West Antarctica is defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60° S for the purposes of the Treaty System.

10. The only anomalous area of West Antarctica is the Ellsworth Mountains region, where the stratigraphy is more similar to East Antarctica.

11. The most common rocks in West Antarctica are andesite and rhyolite volcanics formed during the Jurassic period.

12. East West Antarctica was at the equator, where sea floor invertebrates and trilobites flourished in the tropical seas.

13. West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere, and during this period large amounts of sandstones, limestones and shales were deposited.

14. West Antarctica was not always cold, dry, and covered in ice sheets.

15. West Antarctica contains many other mountains, on both the main continent and the surrounding islands.

16. West Antarctica is divided in two by the Transantarctic Mountains close to the neck between the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea.

17. West Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status.

18. West Antarctica is surrounded by a strong clockwise circumpolar circulation.

19. West Antarctica lies almost entirely within the Antarctic Circle, which is at about 66 degrees south latitude.

20. West Antarctica is home to Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on the planet and home to Earth's only long-lived lava lakes.

21. Since 2009, West Antarctica has lost almost 278 billion tons of ice per year, the new study found.

22. West Antarctica is mostly covered by a massive ice sheet referred to as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.