Book 16, Question 6
Why Is Antarctica Called a Desert Even Though It Is Covered in Ice?
A desert is a place that gets very little rain or snow, and the heat does not matter! The inside of Antarctica is so cold and dry that it gets only a couple of inches of snowfall a year, measured as melted water. That makes it a frozen desert.
More fun facts
- Antarctica counts as a desert because it gets very little rain or snow.
- The little snow that falls does not melt.
- Instead, it piles up over hundreds and thousands of years to form huge, thick ice sheets.
- Antarctica's icy landscape includes glaciers, ice shelves and icebergs.
- The only plants that can survive the cold there are lichens, mosses and algae.
- It is too cold for people to live there for a long time, so scientists take turns visiting to study the ice.
- NASA uses satellites to measure how Antarctica's ice sheets are changing.
Sources: NASA
Questions kids ask
Why do scientists compare Antarctica to Mars?
The cold, dry desert conditions in Antarctica are like the conditions on Mars.