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Around 98% of continental Antarctica is covered in ice up to 4.7 kilometres (2.9 mi) thick. [1] Antarctica's icy deserts have extremely low temperatures, high solar radiation, and extreme dryness. [2] Any precipitation that does fall usually falls as snow, and is restricted to a band around 300 kilometres (186 mi) from the coast.
Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km 2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).
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.
It is most visible in high-latitude regions like Antarctica and southern Australia. Image credits: Ross Burgener. Meanwhile, for Dr. Brandon, the most beautiful natural phenomenon is the northern ...
A new study looked at unique natural wonders in some of the most extraordinary places on the planet to rank 10 that are “actually worth a visit.”
Antarctica was also part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland, which gradually broke up by continental drift starting 110 million years ago. The separation of South America from Antarctica 30–35 million years ago allowed the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to form, which isolated Antarctica climatically and caused it to become much colder.
Blood Falls, 2006 Blood Falls, at the toe of Taylor Glacier, 2013. Blood Falls is an outflow of an iron(III) oxide–tainted plume of saltwater, flowing from the tongue of Taylor Glacier onto the ice-covered surface of West Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Victoria Land, East Antarctica.
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