Surrounding the South Pole, the continent of Antarctica has no permanent population but it has dozens of scientific stations, many of them staffed year round. A few of these stations are visited fairly regularly by adventure cruise ships. The more accessible stations are all located in the region south of Cape Horn (Chile), where the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands extend well to the north into waters that can be navigated safely during the summer. This region is claimed by Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom. Under the Antarctic Treaty System these claims are suspended indefinitely and all lands south of latitude 60°S are set aside as a scientific and wildlife reserve. In the Lighthouse Directory navigational beacons are considered to be lighthouses if they have a height of at least 4 meters and a footprint of at least 4 square meters. By this standard Antarctica has no lighthouses. However, this page lists a number of taller beacons that approach lighthouse status. Several of these lights have been described as "the world's southernmost lighthouse." For the record, the southernmost navigational light listed by the Admiralty and NGA is a small beacon at the Argentine station of San Martín, near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula at 68°11.8'S. This is considerably farther south than the other lights listed here. Lights in the Antarctic are operated by the stations they serve and probably are lighted only when ships are expected. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume G of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publications 110 for the South Orkney Islands and 111 for the South Shetland Islands and Antarctica.
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![]() Grunden Rock Light, Base Esperanza, Antarctica, 2007 photo copyright Ted Smith; used by permission |
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![]() Doumer Island Light, Antarctica, 2018 photo copyright Tom Chisholm; used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining page: North: Chile: Magallanes
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Posted December 14, 2007. Checked and revised September 25, 2024. Lighthouses: 18. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.