--- title: "Regions of Antarctica: East, West, and the Peninsula" url: https://33travels.com/regions-of-antarctica/ author: "Tomas Herrera" published: 2026-10-27 updated: 2026-10-27 place: "World" --- # Regions of Antarctica: East, West, and the Peninsula Antarctica has two major regions, East and West, separated by the Transantarctic Mountains. The Antarctic Peninsula, the finger of land pointing at South America, is a third, distinct sub-region of West Antarctica that behaves like a different continent. Everything else people call a “region” of Antarctica (the Ross Sea, Queen Maud Land, the 15 biogeographic zones) is a way of slicing those three pieces differently. That’s why searching this topic gives you five answers from five sources. Geologists, biologists, diplomats and tour operators each draw their own map. This post lays all of them over each other. ## Contents - [The short version: East, West and the Peninsula](#the-short-version-east-west-and-the-peninsula) - [East Antarctica](#east-antarctica) - [West Antarctica](#west-antarctica) - [The Antarctic Peninsula](#the-antarctic-peninsula) - [The Transantarctic Mountains: the dividing line](#the-transantarctic-mountains-the-dividing-line) - [The Ross Sea region](#the-ross-sea-region) - [East vs. West vs. Peninsula at a glance](#east-vs-west-vs-peninsula-at-a-glance) - [Other ways to divide Antarctica](#other-ways-to-divide-antarctica) - [Which region fits your purpose](#which-region-fits-your-purpose) ## The short version: East, West and the Peninsula ![Close-up of a vintage globe highlighting Antarctica with detailed geographic labels.](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/antarctica-map.jpeg) Antarctica covers about 14.2 million square kilometers, roughly one and a half times the size of Europe. The Transantarctic Mountains run about 3,500 kilometers across it, from the Ross Sea toward the Weddell Sea, and cut it into two unequal halves. On the Pacific and Atlantic side of the range, the larger half sits on solid continental bedrock. That’s East Antarctica. On the other side, the smaller half is a scatter of mountains and islands buried under ice. That’s West Antarctica. The Peninsula sticks out of the western half and gets warmer, wetter weather than anywhere else on the continent. ## East Antarctica East Antarctica takes up around two-thirds of the continent, about 10 million square kilometers. It’s called “East” because it lies in the Eastern Hemisphere, on the far side of the prime meridian from the Peninsula. **Terrain.** It’s a single ancient landmass, a high plateau under an ice sheet that reaches about 4,800 meters thick in places. The South Pole sits here, on ice at an altitude of roughly 2,835 meters. Dome A, near the middle, is the highest point of the ice sheet at about 4,000 meters. Below the ice there are buried mountains and subglacial lakes, including Lake Vostok. **Climate.** This is the coldest, driest and windiest part of Antarctica. Russia’s Vostok Station recorded -89.2°C in July 1983, still the lowest air temperature measured on Earth. The interior gets so little snowfall that it counts as a desert, with annual precipitation often cited at under 50 millimeters of water equivalent. **Named lands.** The coastline is broken into sectors named by explorers: Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac. Robertson Land, Princess Elizabeth Land, Wilkes Land and Victoria Land. **Wildlife.** Almost nothing lives on the interior ice. Life clusters on the coast and on ice-free patches. The Dry Valleys of Victoria Land have no snow cover and host only microbes and lichens. Emperor penguins breed on the fast ice along the coast, including colonies in the Weddell Sea sector and around Cape Crozier. Adélie penguins and several seal species use the shoreline. **Who goes there.** Mostly scientists. East Antarctica holds stations run by Australia, Russia, China, India, Japan, France and others. Tourists rarely reach it. A few expedition voyages visit sites like Commonwealth Bay, where Douglas Mawson’s 1911 huts still stand, and a small number of people fly to the South Pole each year on private expeditions. ## West Antarctica West Antarctica covers about 2 million square kilometers, a bit under one-fifth of the continent. It sits in the Western Hemisphere and includes the Peninsula, Ellsworth Land, Marie Byrd Land and the Ross Ice Shelf’s western flank. **Terrain.** Strip away the ice and West Antarctica turns into an archipelago of islands and mountains under shallow sea. Much of its ice sheet rests on bedrock that lies below sea level, which makes it unstable. Warm ocean water can reach underneath the ice and thin it from below. Glaciologists watch two glaciers in particular, Pine Island and Thwaites, because they drain a huge basin. If the whole West Antarctic ice sheet melted, global sea level would rise by roughly 3 to 5 meters. East Antarctica holds enough ice for about 50 meters, but its ice is far more stable. **High point.** The Ellsworth Mountains hold Vinson Massif at 4,892 meters, the highest peak on the continent. Climbers reach it through a private camp at Union Glacier, served by flights from Punta Arenas, Chile. **Climate.** Colder than the Peninsula, milder than the East. Marine air brings more snow, cloud and storms, and the region is warming faster than almost anywhere else on Earth. **Marie Byrd Land.** This is the biggest wedge of unclaimed land on the planet, about 1.6 million square kilometers. No country has made a territorial claim on it. It’s named after the wife of American explorer Richard Byrd. **Who goes there.** Researchers working on ice-sheet loss, plus a few climbers and ski-traverse expeditions. For a general visitor, the practical gateway is the Peninsula, covered next. ## The Antarctic Peninsula The Peninsula stretches about 1,300 kilometers toward Tierra del Fuego, and the Drake Passage is all that separates it from South America. It’s technically the northern tip of West Antarctica, but nearly everything about it is different: it has liquid water in summer, green moss, and an actual snow-melt season. **Terrain.** A spine of jagged mountains, the Antarctandes, drops straight into fjords and bays. Ice-free coastline and offshore islands (the South Shetlands, Deception Island, the Gerlache Strait) give you landing sites that interior Antarctica simply doesn’t have. The land is divided into Graham Land in the north and Palmer Land in the south. **Climate.** The Peninsula is one of the fastest-warming places on the planet, with average winter temperatures up several degrees Celsius since the mid-20th century. In February 2020, Argentina’s Esperanza Base recorded 18.3°C, a continental record confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization. Summer days on the coast hover around freezing, and rain turns up more often than visitors expect. **Wildlife.** This is where Antarctic wildlife is easiest to see. Gentoo, chinstrap and Adélie penguins nest here in the thousands. Humpback and minke whales feed in the narrow channels, and leopard, Weddell and crabeater seals haul out on floes. Krill, which feed the whole system, thrive in the cold waters offshore. **Who goes there.** Nearly everyone. The industry body [IAATO](https://iaato.org) reports that well over 100,000 visitors now travel to Antarctica in a season, and the great majority of them go to the Peninsula. The season runs from November to March. Ships leave from Ushuaia in Argentina and cross the Drake Passage in about two days each way, which is rougher than anything else on the trip. Prices vary widely: a basic cabin on a ship can start around $7,000 to $8,000 per person, and expedition-style trips with kayaking, camping or small-ship landings run well beyond that. ## The Transantarctic Mountains: the dividing line The Transantarctic Mountains are one of the longest mountain ranges on Earth, running roughly 3,500 kilometers. They separate East and West Antarctica, and they’re the reason the continent has a clean two-way split at all. East of the range, the ice sits on a thick, stable continental shield. West of it, the crust is thinner and rifted. The range rises where the two meet, and most of its peaks poke out through the ice as nunataks, the technical term for a mountain top surrounded by an ice sheet. Glaciers like the Beardmore and Axel Heiberg cut through the range to feed the Ross Ice Shelf. Early polar explorers used these same glaciers as highways to the South Pole. Today the range also marks the edge of the Ross Sea region. ## The Ross Sea region ![Stunning view of Antarctic glacier with rugged mountain peaks under a clear blue sky.](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/antarctica-glacier.jpeg) The Ross Sea is a deep bay on the Pacific side of the continent, filled in its southern part by the Ross Ice Shelf, a floating platform of ice roughly the size of France. It’s neither East nor West: the sea sits between Victoria Land (East) and Marie Byrd Land (West), with the Transantarctic Mountains behind it. It matters for three reasons. - **Science.** The U.S. base McMurdo Station, the continent’s largest settlement with about 1,000 people in summer, sits on Ross Island beside Mount Erebus, an active volcano rising 3,794 meters. New Zealand’s Scott Base is close by. - **Politics.** New Zealand claimed the **Ross Dependency** in 1923, covering the sector south of 60°S between 160°E and 150°W. - **Conservation.** The Ross Sea was designated a marine protected area in 2016, one of the largest in the world, because it’s the least-altered ocean ecosystem left on Earth. It supports Weddell seals, orcas, Antarctic toothfish and large Adélie and emperor penguin colonies. **Who goes there.** Visiting the Ross Sea is harder and more expensive than visiting the Peninsula. Voyages leave from Hobart or New Zealand, last about a month and often include sub-Antarctic islands. Passengers see Shackleton’s and Scott’s historic huts, emperor colonies and the ice shelf edge. Expect prices well above the Peninsula, often $20,000 and up. ## East vs. West vs. Peninsula at a glance | | East Antarctica | West Antarctica | Antarctic Peninsula | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rough size | ~10 million km² | ~2 million km² (includes Peninsula) | ~1,300 km long | | Terrain | Stable continental plateau under thick ice | Mountains and islands under marine-based ice sheet | Mountain spine, fjords, ice-free coast | | Ice thickness | Up to ~4,800 m | Thinner; bed often below sea level | Thin; many glaciers and ice shelves | | Climate | Coldest, driest, windiest | Colder than Peninsula; stormy | Mildest and wettest | | Warming trend | Mixed, slower | Fast | Among the fastest on Earth | | Wildlife | Emperor and Adélie penguins on coast; interior nearly empty | Coastal penguins and seals | Gentoo, chinstrap, Adélie penguins; whales, seals | | Highest point | Dome A ice sheet (~4,000 m) | Vinson Massif (4,892 m) | Mount Jackson (~3,184 m) | | Visitors | Very few | Few (climbers, expeditions) | Most of the ~100,000+ yearly tourists | ## Other ways to divide Antarctica East and West is the geologist’s map, but it isn’t the only one. **Biogeographic regions.** The [Australian Antarctic Division](https://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2012/antarctica-divided-into-distinct-biogeographic-regions/) published a 2012 study that split the continent into 15 distinct biogeographic regions based on the species living in them. The regions include Northeast Antarctic Peninsula, South Victoria Land, Dronning Maud Land and others. The goal was to give conservation planners a map based on life, rather than on ice or politics. **Territorial claims.** Seven countries have claimed sectors of Antarctica: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. Several overlap on the Peninsula. Australia’s claim is the largest, covering about 42 percent of the continent. The UK named the section of its territory between the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and the Pole **Queen Elizabeth Land** in 2012. Under the [Antarctic Treaty](https://www.ats.aq/e/antarctictreaty.html), signed in 1959, these claims are frozen: no country can enlarge a claim, and no new activity counts as a basis for one. **Tourist regions.** Operators sell Antarctica as five or six destinations: the Peninsula, the Weddell Sea, the Ross Sea and East Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands, the Antarctic Circle, and the South Pole. These follow where ships can reach, not where nature draws a line. ## Which region fits your purpose Studying for a geography test: remember East is the big, stable, frozen plateau; West is smaller, lower and more vulnerable; the Peninsula is the warm exception, with a mountain range between East and West. Planning a trip: the Peninsula is the realistic choice, with the Ross Sea for those who want a longer, rarer voyage. East Antarctica and the Pole are for specialists. Reading the news about melting ice: the headlines about sea-level rise come mostly from West Antarctica, the Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers in particular. The headlines about record heat come from the Peninsula. The coldest places on Earth are still in the East. Once you know those three, the regions of Antarctica stop being a list to memorize and start to make sense as one system.