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The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth. The continent is also extremely dry (it is a desert [ 1 ] ), averaging 166 mm (6.5 in) of precipitation per year. Snow rarely melts on most parts of the continent, and, after being compressed, becomes the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet .
Parts of icy Antarctica are turning green with plant life as the region is gripped by extreme heat events, new research shows, sparking concerns about the changing landscape on this vast continent.
The icing of Antarctica began in the Late Palaeocene or middle Eocene between 60 [121] and 45.5 million years ago [122] and escalated during the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event about 34 million years ago. CO 2 levels were then about 760 ppm [123] and had been decreasing from earlier levels in the thousands of ppm.
The geography of Antarctica is dominated by its south polar location and, thus, by ice. The Antarctic continent , located in the Earth 's southern hemisphere , is centered asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle .
A portion of the world's iciest, coldest continent is "greening" at a dramatic rate because of global warming, scientists announced in a recent study.In fact, the research showed that vegetation ...
Antarctica's two flowering plant species, the Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) are found on the northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula, including offshore islands, where the climate is relatively mild. Lagotellerie Island in Marguerite Bay is an example of this habitat.
Pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change pose great risks to the environment. The Antarctic Treaty System is a global treaty designed to preserve Antarctica as a place of research, and measures from this system are used to regulate human activity in Antarctica.
The continent of Antarctica itself has been too cold and dry to support any other vascular plants for millions of years. The scanty vegetation of Antarctica is a result of the chilling temperature, lack of sunlight, little rainfall, relatively poor soil quality , and a lack of moisture due to the inability of the plants to absorb water in the ...