When it comes to harsh spots, Antarctica sweeps the superlatives: According to the CIA World Factbook, this southern land mass is the coldest, driest, highest and windiest continent. The coldest temperature on Earth was recorded in Antarctica in 1983, when the outside air hit minus 129 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 89 degrees Celsius) at Vostok Research Station, which sits at the center of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, about 800 miles (1,300 km) from the Geographic South Pole.

Antarctica's terrain is 98 percent ice, with the rest made up by barren rock. And while the seas around Antarctica teem with krill, squid, fish and seals, the land is less hospitable. According to the British Antarctic Survey, there are no native reptiles, amphibians or mammals on the continent.

Antarctica isn’t completely deserted, though. By the CIA's count, the human population of the fifth-largest continent swells to over 4,000 in the summer as researchers and support crews launch missions from ((CONLINK|39|Antarctic research stations)). In the winter, about 1,000 people remain to brave temperatures as low as minus 94 F (minus 70 C).

The Harshest Environments on Earth