It was Midwinter's Day in Antarctica recently. June 20 or 21 is the day of the southern winter solstice in this gorgeous snowy land, the world's seventh and least-populated continent.
Stunning Gerlache Strait between the Palmer Archipelago and Antarctica Peninsula, northern part of mainland Antarctica and the habitat of whales.
One of 4 killer whales attempting to entrap a crabeater seal by knocking him off the ice floe, near Graham Coast. The seal survived the two-hour battle by swimming away dodging the orca quartet.
Wilhelm Archipelago, off western Antarctica's coast. Discovered by a party of German explorers in 1874, they named it for their kaiser -- Wilhelm I. Britain's Captain James Cook was the 1st explorer to venture anywhere near Antarctica in 1773, stopping short of 120 km from the continent.
A young seal rests on icy fragments along Lagoon Island’s Antarctic coast. Antarctica is the 5th largest continent, most of it located south of the Antarctica Circle.
A penguin glides along beneath Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Ross Island. The freshwater reserves of the world -- 70 per cent -- lie in Antarctica. If they melts, ocean water levels will rise 60 m.
Argentine station Almirante Brown, Paradise Harbor, Gerlach Strait. 7 nations laid claims to tracts of land -- Britain, France, Norway, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia. Others established research stations, India too.
A Weddell seal snoozes as Adelie penguins frolic about at Boat Harbour, Commonwealth Bay. A penguin census in 2020 established there were 10 million Adelie penguins.
Ross Sea, near New Zealand’s Scott Base in the Antarctic region. The lowest temperature ever recorded in the world (1983) was in Antarctica -- -89.2°C. In summer the coast can become as warm as 10°C.
A pile of timber toboggans at Britain's Rothera Research Station. Sleds, pulled by teams of huskies, were once the commonest transport. Dogs were banned in 1994 for fear they pass on illness to Antarctic fauna species. Skidoos (snowmobiles) dominate now.
UK researcher Alison Cook rests on Merger Peak, after landing by plane on a snowy ridge. With a GPS monitor she was working at making more accurate maps of the continent. She spent 15 years doing this.
Adelie penguins on a romp. Highly curious, mid-sized birds, but the smallest of Antarctic penguins. Militant too, they take on seals and have been known to slap explorers with their flippers.
The very wide Thwaites Glacier, moving at the rate of 2 km a year, lies on the Walgreen coast of unclaimed Marie Byrd Land near Mount Murphy. The widest glacier in the world, it is roughly a little smaller than UK (minus Northern Ireland).
An expedition ship arrives at Almirante Brown, an Argentine station. The tiny settlement, built in 1951, was rebuilt after a doctor forcibly posted here through the winter burnt it down in 1984. Gentoo penguins nest nearby.
Historic Shackleton hut, Ross Island. Anglo-Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his group stayed at this hut in the winter of 1908. After his departure he ensured it was stocked with a year of supplies for 15 people.
A continent of rivers (Onyx is the longest), glaciers, mountain ranges (Vinson Massif the highest), ice sheets, volcanoes, lakes including the largest subglacial lake in the world, 18,000 km of coastline about half of which is floating ice.
A cross stands close to where British explorer George T Vince lost his life in 1902 at McMurdo Sound, after he was caught in a blizzard.