The small amount of snow that does fall, builds up over hundreds and thousands of years to form its large, thick ice sheets. If all would somehow melt, it would raise the global sea level by almost 60 meters (200ft).Īntarctica is in fact a desert because it receives very little precipitation. Around 61% of all fresh water on Earth is stored in the Antarctic ice sheet. It covers about 98% of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. You can see the rapid freezing of the ocean surface and sea-ice formation, as the Southern Hemisphere is heading toward winter.īut the main ice mass is the vast ice sheet over the continent. The video below shows the sea-ice concentration around Antarctica, from February till May. Together with the continental ice sheets, it forms the south polar icecap. It freezes towards winter and melts over summer, just like in the Arctic Ocean. Our story happens in northwest Antarctica, on the western edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf.Īntarctica is also surrounded by sea-ice, which is basically a frozen ocean. The image below shows the landscape of Antarctica, with the main ice shelves marked. The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was in Antarctica, at -89.4☌ (-129☏). It is the coldest place on Earth with an average winter temperature of -34.4☌ (-30☏). But first, let’s quickly look at some interesting facts about Antarctica.Īntarctica is Earth’s fifth-largest continent and is covered almost completely in ice. It is much larger than the state of Rhode Island and is over 70-timers larger than Manhattan, NY. The iceberg is named A-76, as it broke off in the A sector of Antarctica. It is over 4,300 square kilometers in size and is now the largest iceberg in the world. An enormous iceberg broke off the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica, moving into the Weddell Sea.
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