Fun fact#784
Antarctica is a desert
Antarctica receives so little precipitation that it qualifies as the largest desert on Earth.
Antarctica
The largest desert on Earth, with no time zone and 70 percent of the world's fresh water.
6 entries · 6 fun facts
Antarctica at a glance
The practical numbers, before the stories.
- Capital
- None - no government, no permanent population
- Currency
- None; research stations use the currency of their supplying country
- Official language
- None official; English, Spanish and Russian are common at stations
- Climate
- Polar desert. The largest desert on Earth, with almost no precipitation and winds over 300 km/h recorded.
- Best time to go
- November–March, the only months tourist vessels operate
- Time zone
- No official zone - stations use the time of their supply country
- Driving side
- Not applicable
- Plugs and voltage
- Varies by station
Worth knowing: Governed by the Antarctic Treaty, which reserves the continent for peaceful scientific use.
Planning a trip to Antarctica
The decisions that determine whether the trip works, whichever country you are going to.
Antarctica receives so little precipitation that it qualifies as the largest desert on the planet, and around 70 percent of the world's fresh water is locked in an ice sheet up to four kilometres thick. It has no time zone of its own: research stations simply use the time of whichever country supplies them, so neighbours can be hours apart.
Blood Falls is stained by iron-rich brine sealed beneath the ice for over a million years. Emperor penguins incubate their eggs on their feet through the polar night at temperatures below minus forty. Parts of the McMurdo Dry Valleys have not seen rain for roughly two million years.
Entries from Antarctica
Fun fact#786
Antarctica has no time zone
Research stations use the time zone of their supply country, so neighbours can be hours apart.
Fun fact#788
Antarctic ice holds most fresh water
Around 70 percent of the world's fresh water is locked in the Antarctic ice sheet, up to four kilometres thick.
Fun fact#867
Antarctica has a blood-red waterfall
Blood Falls is stained by iron-rich brine that has been sealed beneath the ice for over a million years.
Fun fact#869
Antarctica has dry valleys with no ice
Katabatic winds strip the McMurdo Dry Valleys bare, and some have not seen rain for around two million years.
Fun fact#871
Emperor penguins breed in winter darkness
Emperors incubate eggs on their feet through the polar night at temperatures below minus 40 degrees.
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