When snow falls on the ice sheet, where subzero temperatures ensure it doesn’t melt. Antarctic temperatures regularly reach ...

Modern Antarctica is a frozen desert, largely devoid of life except around the coasts. But this wasn't always the case. In 1833, naturalist James Eights found fossilized wood buried in the continent's ...

The glacial meltwater streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs), Antarctica only flow during the austral summer and contain abundant algal mats which grow at the onset of flow. The algal abundance in ...

Did you know the largest desert in the world isn’t hot? It’s cold! Surprised? A desert doesn’t need to be sandy—it just has to be very dry. Antarctica is the largest desert on Earth. This continent, ...

For most people, the word “desert” summons images of sand dunes, cacti and snakes. In television and movies, characters typically become sweaty, starved and parched when they’re stuck in the desert.

McMurdo Dry Valleys is the driest spot; some areas haven't seen rain in millions of years. Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar region, used by NASA for Mars simulation. Cities like Aswan ...