Photo by Kristin Poynar.

Consider the coldest, highest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth, Antarctica, if you’re trying to find a place to cool down during this hot summer. Antarctica is a frozen world containing 90% of the world’s total surface freshwater as a thick 3-mile (4.8 km) layer of ice that has pushed some land areas below sea level. 

At the highest points, the air can get, on average, as cold as -103 ºF (or -75 ºC). The Vostok research station recorded the world’s coldest temperature, an astounding -128 ºF (or -89 ºC). Captain James Cook was the first to circumnavigate the continent in the 1770s to look for commercial opportunities. 

Today, Antarctica is a continent for science, and nations need to comply with the Antarctic Treaty, which recognizes this beautiful continent as a ‘natural reserve, devoted to peace and science.

Photo by John Rask