Antarctica No longer the last unexplored continent, Antarctica is almost wholly centered around the South Pole and consists of mountain ranges, peninsulas and caves covered by 7 million cubic miles of ice. This vast ice sheet, on average 6,500 feet thick, represents 90 percent of the world's total ice. Inhospitable and almost impossible to reach, this frozen wonderland is inhabited only by a limited range of animals, and a few brave international scientists.