The Polar POD will never meet Antarctica, even if this continent of superlatives will be permanently in its binoculars. During his years of work, he will circle this southern continent, letting himself be carried away by the circumpolar current, the strongest in the world!

This structure corresponds to what is called a cap, which can be represented as a large ice cake, whose formation began 35 million years ago and which is fed by snowfall.
At the top of this cap is the plateau, then on the coasts rivers of ice or glaciers are formed until they reach the coastline and flow into the sea. As they advance over the water, they form ice shelves that can be fed by several glaciers and that will interact with the oceans. When they break up, they will form an iceberg. This is called calving.
 
70% of the world's fresh surface water is found here, and the thickness of the ice cap can reach 4 km (the point where the ice cap is thickest is in the east, not far from Terre Adélie and would be approximately the height of Mont Blanc!) The melting of all this ice would lead to an increase in sea level of 60 meters worldwide.

The Antarctic continent is made up of 3 main parts: the comma-shaped Antarctic Peninsula, which rises towards South America, East Antarctica to the south of Australia and Africa and finally West Antarctica separated by the Trans Antarctic Mountains. Under the cap, Antarctica is no longer a continent, but an archipelago of islands. If the maximum altitude of the ice cap reaches 4 050 m (Argus Dome), the real highlight of the
is Mount Vinson (4 897 m) in the Ellsworth Mountains.
 
Antarctica is centered on the south geographic pole (Earth's axis of rotation). There is also a geomagnetic south pole; this fixed point corresponds to the extension of the direction of a theoretical "bar magnet" (magnetic dipole) that is placed at the center of the Earth with an inclination of 11° with respect to the axis of rotation, allowing to account for the main magnetic field. More important in practice is the south magnetic pole; this is the point you would reach if you were to follow the south with your compass. It is constantly moving about 12 km per year, but we do not know exactly why (magnetic disturbances in the upper atmosphere, convection currents in the iron core of the planet). The magnetic pole can be located at sea, or on land, and is regularly found near the Dumont d'Urville station in Terre Adélie.

Another particular point must be noted: it is the pole of inaccessibility calculated by cartographers and which is the farthest place from the coasts. The Russians have also determined and reached what they call "the pole of absolute cold".
 
The status of Antarctica is quite particular and is governed by the Antarctic Treaty. Signed on December 1, 1959 in Washington, D.C. by the 12 countries whose scientists had engaged in activities in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, it came into force in 1961. This treaty commits its signatory countries to freeze their territorial and economic claims and dedicates the continent to peace and science.