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No, it is not illegal to travel to Antarctica | Fact check

Eleanor McCrary, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: It is illegal to go to Antarctica

A May 20 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a video of a man speaking about Antarctica.

"Do you think these are the reasons why it’s illegal to go to the (sic) Antarctica?" reads the post's caption.

The person in the video goes on to say there is an "ancient race of super-beings," pyramids and a hidden tropical rainforest in Antarctica.

The post was liked over 4,000 times in six days.

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Our rating: False

It is not illegal to go to Antarctica. There is no evidence of an "ancient race of super-beings," pyramids or a tropical rainforest on the continent, experts told USA TODAY.

Tourists regularly travel to Antarctica

It is not illegal to go to Antarctica and thousands of people do each year.

The annual number of visitors to Antarctica has been climbing since the 1950s, according to the Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty. About 74,000 people visited the continent during the 2019-2020 season.

However, visitors must adhere to some regulations, such as not disturbing local wildlife, damaging historic sites or bringing in non-native species.

Fact check: Antarctica is a continent, not an 'ice wall'

A traveler's home country may have other requirements about traveling to Antarctica. The U.S. State Department, for example, has separate guidelines in place that require citizens to notify the department three months before going on a private expedition on the continent.

No evidence of pyramids, tropical rainforest

The person in the video describes several reasons why he believes it is "illegal" to go to Antarctica, like hidden tropical rainforests, pyramids and an "ancient race of super-beings."

But there is no evidence these things exist, experts told USA TODAY.

"There is absolutely no evidence of pyramids or an indigenous human presence in Antarctica," said Michael Pearson, a researcher with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, in an email to USA TODAY. "There is no evidence that there is a temperate climate in the center of the continent."

NASA has numerous satellite photos of the ice-covered continent on its website.

Tens of millions of years ago the continent was tropical, Peter Neff, an assistant research professor of climate science at the University of Minnesota who studies Antarctica, said in an email to USA TODAY.

Fact check: Antarctica has warmed in the last 70 years

Back then, the landmass was in a different location. Now, it would not be possible for a tropical rainforest to exist on the continent, Neff said.

"The high-latitude polar climate is fundamentally unable to support much vegetation at all, much less tropical rainforests which require abundant heat, sunlight and moisture," he said. "These are all things that are not found in Antarctica. The high latitude and tilt of Earth's axis means it is dark for about 6 months of the year. Antarctica is the largest and driest desert on Earth, and it's of course cold."

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Yes, it is legal to visit Antarctica | Fact check