Antarctica the Great White Continent is a fantasy land of ice and snow.

The continent of Antarctica is a little bit bigger than the continental US although during the winter when ice forms all around it the continent doubles in size. About 90% of the world’s ice and 95% of the earth’s fresh water is in Antarctica. Antarctica is a very mountainous place although its deceiving as 98% of it is covered by a vast permanent ice sheet that averages over 6,600 feet in thickness reaching over 15,000 feet thick in places. Surprisingly Antarctica is the driest continent with most of it classified as a desert as the snow and ice that make up the polar ice cap has accumulated over millions of years.

There are two major types of ice in the polar regions, sea ice and glacial ice. Sea ice forms in oceanic water when the water temperature reaches 28.5’F. Each winter the sea surface around Antarctic freezes forming a layer of ice 3-10 feet thick and extending 60-120 miles offshore. Occasionally large sections of shelf ice break off creating enormous tabular bergs that can be many miles in length and be up to 1,000 feet thick. Ice bergs on the other hand are large chucks of ice that break off from glaciers that reach the sea.



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