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The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The term Antarctic , referring to the opposite of the Arctic Circle , was coined by Marinus of Tyre in the 2nd century AD.
Antarctica is a polar desert with little precipitation; the continent receives an average equivalent to about 150 mm (6 in) of water per year, mostly in the form of snow. The interior is dryer and receives less than 50 mm (2 in) per year, whereas the coastal regions typically receive more than 200 mm (8 in). [ 73 ]
A map of the Antarctic region, including the Antarctic Convergence and the 60th parallel south The Antarctic Plate. The Antarctic (/ æ n ˈ t ɑːr t ɪ k / or / æ n ˈ t ɑːr k t ɪ k /, American English also / æ n t ˈ ɑːr t ɪ k / or / æ n t ˈ ɑːr k t ɪ k /; commonly / æ ˈ n ɑːr t ɪ k /) [Note 1] is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around ...
Some 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, the world's largest ice sheet and also its largest reservoir of fresh water. Averaging at least 1.6 km thick, the ice is so massive that it has depressed the continental bedrock in some areas more than 2.5 km below sea level; subglacial lakes of liquid water also occur (e.g., Lake ...
They have also been found deep under the ice, in Lake Whillans, part of a network of subglacial lakes that sunlight does not reach. [67] A wide variety of algae are found in Antarctica, often forming the base of food webs. [68] About 400 species of single-celled phytoplankton that float in the water column of the Southern Ocean have been ...
Recent research from West Antarctica found melting at the base of glaciers was actually lower than expected, because it was being suppressed by a layer of colder, fresher water — although ...
[1] [2] [3] When a glacier is very thick, the pressure at the bottom is great enough that liquid water can exist at temperatures where water would freeze, at regular pressures. The ice above Lake Vostok , the largest antarctic lake, is approximately 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) thick.
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