South Pole

The South Pole is the most southern point on the Earth. It is in Antarctica and is the center of the Southern Hemisphere. From the South pole, everywhere is North.

Unlike the North Pole, which is covered by sea and flat sea-ice, the South Pole is on a mountainous continent called Antarctica. Antarctica has not always been at the South Pole. Continental drift has occurred.

The geographic North and South poles are the poles the Earth spins around. These poles stay in the same place, and are usually the ones we mean if we just say North or South Pole. People can tell that they are at these poles by looking at the stars (at the poles, a star just circles around at the same height, never dipping to the horizon). The Sun rises once a year and gives the South Pole half a year of summer but it is always cold. When the Sun sets half a year later it makes half a year of winter which is even colder. The South Pole is always cold because the Sun never rises high in the sky.

The south magnetic pole is something different. It is defined by the Earth's magnetic field, as roughly where a magnetic compass needle points. People can tell they are near these poles by looking at a compass.