At the bottom of the world lies a mighty continent still wrapped in the Ice Age and, 1 recent times, unknown to man. 2 of the continent is a complete blank on our maps. A 1,000-mile stretch of the coastline has never been 3 by any ship. Man has explored, on foot, less than one per cent of its area. Antarctica differs fundamentally 4 the Arctic regions. The Arctic is an ocean, covered with drifting 5 and surrounded by the land masses of Europe, Asia, and North America. The Antarctic is a continent almost as large as Europe and Australia 6 centered roughly on the South Pole surrounded by the most unobstructed water areas of the world—the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. The continental ice sheet is more than two miles 7 in its center; thus the air over the Antarctic is much colder than it is 8 the Arctic regions. More than a million persons live within 2,000 miles of the North Pole in an area that 9 most of Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia—a region rich 10 forest and 11 mining industries. Apart from a handful of weather stations, within the same distance of the South Pole there is not a single tree, industry, or settlement.