Which continent contains the South Pole?

The continent containing the South Pole is Antarctica.

The Geographic South Pole marks 90° south latitude, where Earth’s rotation axis meets its surface. It lies on the Antarctic ice sheet, near the center of the continent, at an elevation of about 2,835 meters above sea level. Ice at the Pole is roughly 2,700 meters thick, so the bedrock beneath it is much lower.

The South Pole is not the same as the South Magnetic Pole, which moves over time and is currently elsewhere in Antarctica. The Geographic South Pole was first reached in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, followed weeks later by Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition. The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, operated by the United States, has supported year-round research since 1956.

Antarctica is colder than the Arctic partly because the South Pole sits on a high continental ice sheet, whereas the North Pole lies on sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean. The ice itself slowly drifts, so the marker for the Pole is repositioned each year.