Antarctica is exactly that continent, which is located south of Australia, as well as south of South America and Africa. Covered with a multi-kilometer layer of ice, the continent is uninhabited and, according to international treaties, does not belong to any of the states, despite the fact that during the colonial wars some states claimed their separate large territories in the Antarctic.
First meeting
The Russian explorers Bellingshausen and Lazarev were recognized as the pioneers of Antarctica, who were the first to go around the whole continent, thereby confirming its existence. However, the continent did not receive its modern name immediately. Initially, the discoverers called it the "ice continent."
Actually, the term "Antarctica" dates back to the Greek roots, dating back to Aristotle and translated as "against the north", which indicates its geographical location - it is the southernmost continent on the planet, whose geographical center is located in close proximity to the South Pole.
The mainland has a complex geographical structure and is the highest among the continents, which means that its average elevation above sea level is greater than on other continents. However, all these heights are hidden under a thick layer of ice, sometimes reaching a thickness of several kilometers.
Ice shell
On top of the mainland rock in Antarctica there are endless icy deserts that extend far into the ocean from the coastline of the continent itself. From time to time, under the pressure of the ice coming from the depths of the continent, large pieces called icebergs break off from the ice fields, some of which reach such gigantic dimensions that they do not have time to melt along the way to the north and reach the coast of Australia.
Antarctica is three thousand kilometers from Australia, while from the extreme point of South America to the coast of the icy continent is only a thousand kilometers.
We hope that it will now be easy to answer even to students in grade 2 which continent is located south of Australia.
South of Australia
It should be said that no matter what the continent would be in the vicinity of Antarctica, it is inevitably exposed to climatic phenomena that arise over its icy deserts.
The fact is that it is in the Antarctic that there are points at which the strongest gusts of wind, the lowest temperatures and the strongest solar radiation were recorded. Such significant processes cannot but affect the global climate. Thus, which continent south of Australia affects the lives of all people on the planet.