KEY POINTS:
It is so dry in Antarctica that workers at Scott Base have to touch metal every few minutes to release the static energy that builds up in their bodies.
They get a mild shock, like the sort you sometimes get when you touch a car, but if they
don't keep it up the shock will get worse.
This tingling sensation can be experienced at the new Extreme Antarctica exhibition at Kelly Tarlton's which runs for the next three months, and includes walking in a wind tunnel and trying on snow boots.
Operations manager Andrew Baker said Antarctica is well known for its ferocious winds. The highest recorded wind velocity, at 327km/h, was recorded at Dumont d'Urville, near Mawson station, in July 1972.
"The noise of the winds has been likened to the sound of a 747 engine."
Mr Baker said clothing didn't need to be waterproof but required lots of layers to act as wind breaks.
Antarctica is one of the world's most extreme environments - the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth - and the exhibition aims to give visitors a first-hand taste of it.
Mr Baker said multi-media and interactive displays, including a webcam link to Scott Base updated every 15 minutes, would show how humans and animals survive in the coldest place on Earth. The exhibition also marks International Polar Year and the 50th anniversary of Scott Base.
The coldest temperature recorded in the Antarctica was - 89.6C at the Russian Vostok station on July 21, 1983.
Only 2 per cent of Antarctica is ice-free, including an area called the Dry Valleys in the Ross Dependency, which is the driest place on earth.
At a function to launch the exhibition on Wednesday, Otago University student Jeremy Piggott was named the recipient of the inaugural Antarctic Youth Ambassador award.
The award was developed by Antarctica New Zealand in partnership with the Sir Peter Blake Trust to provide an opportunity for a young New Zealander to contribute to environmental work in Antarctica.
Mr Piggott, 25, is the team manager of the stream ecology research group in the university's zoology department.
