Antarctica is the fifth largest of the seven continents, with a total surface area of about 14.2 million sq km (in summer). What makes it a desert, then? According to the geological definition: “A desert is an area that receives little precipitation, with 10 inches or 25cm of rain or less a year, lots of hot sand and (contains) very few or no plants.”
Here comes the surprise! As per this definition, Antarctic can be classified as the largest desert in the world. So even though there’s ice on the ground in Antarctica, that ice has been there for a very long time. Isn’t it amazing?
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