continent fletcher island
The Antarctic ( US English , UK English or and or ) is a polar region , specifically the region around the Earth ' s South Pole , opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole . The Antarctic comprises in the strict sense the continent of ___MASK9___ and the island territories located on the Antarctic Plate . In a broader sense the Antarctic region include the ice shelves , waters , and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence , a zone approximately wide varying in latitude seasonally . The region covers some 20 % of the Southern Hemisphere , of which 5 . 5 % ( 14 million km ) is the surface area of the Antarctic continent itself . All of the land and ice shelves south of 60 ° S latitude are administrated under the Antarctic Treaty System . In a biogeographic sense , the Antarctic ecozone is one of eight ecozones of the Earth ' s land surface . Fletcher Island is a rocky island , 0 . 5 km ( 0 . 25 nmi ) in diameter , which is the largest of the Fletcher Islands . Fletcher Island is located at 66 ° 53  S 143 ° 05  E . Fletcher Island lies in the eastern part of Commonwealth Bay , 11 km ( 6 nmi ) west - southwest ( WSW ) of Cape Gray . Fletcher Island was discovered by the Australian Antarctic Expedition ( AAE ) ( 1911 -- 1914 ) under Douglas Mawson , who named it for Frank D . Fletcher , First Officer on the expedition ship Aurora . Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA ( 5 May 1882  14 October 1958 ) was an Australian geologist , Antarctic explorer and academic . Along with Roald Amundsen , Robert Falcon Scott , and Ernest Shackleton , Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration . Captain Robert Falcon Scott , ( 6 June 1868  29 March 1912 ) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions : the Discovery Expedition , 1901  1904 , and the ill - fated Terra Nova Expedition , 1910  1913 . On the first expedition , he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82 ° S and discovered the Polar Plateau , on which the South Pole is located . During the second venture , Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912 , four weeks after Roald Amundsen ' s Norwegian expedition . On their return journey , Scott ' s party discovered plant fossils , proving ___MASK9___ was once forested and joined to other continents . A planned meeting with supporting dog teams from the base camp failed , despite Scott ' s written instructions , and at a distance of 150 miles from their base camp and 11 miles from the next depot , Scott and his companions perished . Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in ___MASK9___ . It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition ( 1911  14 ) under Douglas Mawson , who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney , a patron of the expedition . The cape was the site of the expedition ' s main base . Called by Mawson " the windiest place on Earth ", the site experiences fierce katabatic winds . Historic site . The site , including Mawson ' s Huts , Boat Harbour and the historic artefacts contained within its waters , has been designated a Historic Site or Monument ( HSM 77 ), following a proposal by Australia to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting . Point Alden in ___MASK9___ is an ice - covered point with rock exposures along the seaward side . The point marks the western side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay and the division between Adélie Coast and George V Coast in ___MASK9___ . The point was discovered on January 30 , 1840 by the USEE under Lt . Charles Wilkes , and named by him for Lt . James Alden of the expedition ' s flagship " Vincennes ". ___MASK9___ ( US English , UK English or ) 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 surrounded by the Southern Ocean . At , it is the fifth - largest continent . For comparison , ___MASK9___ is nearly twice the size of Australia . About 98 % of ___MASK9___ is covered by ice that averages in thickness , which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula . ___MASK36___ , officially the Commonwealth of ___MASK36___ , is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent , the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands . It is the world ' s sixth - largest country by total area . The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea , Indonesia and East Timor to the north ; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north - east ; and New Zealand to the south - east . ___MASK36___ ' s capital is Canberra , and its largest urban area is Sydney . Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km ( 30 mi ) wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in ___MASK9___ . It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson , who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay . Named by Australasian Antarctic Expedition after the Commonwealth of Australia . Katabatic Wind . The bay is listed in both the " Guinness Book of World Records " and the Eighth Edition of the " National Geographic Atlas " as the windiest place on Earth with winds regularly exceeding per hour and an average annual wind speed of per hour . The Australasian Antarctic Expedition ( AAE ) was an Australasian scientific team that explored part of ___MASK9___ between 1911 and 1914 . It was led by the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson , who was knighted for his achievements in leading the expedition . In 1910 he began to plan an expedition to chart the coastline of ___MASK9___ to the south of Australia . The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science approved of his plans and contributed substantial funds for the expedition .