Fun fact#784
Antarctica is a desert
Antarctica receives so little precipitation that it qualifies as the largest desert on Earth.
The Poles: 14 stories, quotes and facts
Deserts made of ice, valleys that have not seen rain in two million years, and nights that last for months.
Deserts made of ice, valleys that have not seen rain in two million years, and nights that last for months.
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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#865
The Arctic is ocean, the Antarctic is land
The North Pole sits on drifting sea ice while the South Pole rests on a continent under kilometres of ice.
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.
Fun fact#873
Svalbard has more polar bears than people
Residents leaving town are legally advised to carry a rifle because of the bear population.
Fun fact#875
Nobody is buried in Longyearbyen
Permafrost prevents decomposition, so burials in the town cemetery stopped decades ago.
Fun fact#877
The Arctic has 24-hour daylight in summer
Above the Arctic Circle the sun does not set for weeks, and blackout curtains are standard equipment.
Fun fact#879
Icebergs are freshwater
Icebergs calve from land glaciers, so despite floating in the sea they are made of compressed fresh snow.
Fun fact#881
Only a tenth of an iceberg shows
Roughly 90 percent of an iceberg's mass sits below the waterline, which is where the metaphor comes from.
Fun fact#994
Boiling water freezes in Arctic air
At around minus 40 degrees, throwing boiling water into the air turns it into a cloud of ice crystals almost instantly, because the hot droplets are tiny and evaporate fast.
Fun fact#1000
Sunsets last longer near the poles
At high latitudes the sun meets the horizon at a shallow angle, so twilight can stretch for hours instead of minutes.
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