Mondo Knows Facts
Antarctica is technically the largest desert on Earth
Antarctica receives an average of less than 200 millimetres of precipitation each year along its coast and far less inland.
Deserts are defined by low annual precipitation rather than high temperatures. Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, holding about seventy per cent of Earth's fresh water in the form of ice. Certain inland dry valleys have not seen rain or snow for millions of years.
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More facts like this
The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the worldSpanning over nine million square kilometres, the Sahara covers much of North Africa.Mount Erebus is the southernmost active volcano on EarthRising 3,794 metres on Ross Island in Antarctica, Mount Erebus has been continuously active for decades.Antarctica is the largest and driest desert in the worldExtreme cold keeps annual precipitation below fifty millimetres in the interiorThe Lambert Glacier in Antarctica is the world's largest glacierThis massive ice stream measures over 400 kilometres longThe Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert on EarthSome weather stations in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile have never recorded a single drop of rainfall.The Namib Desert is considered the oldest desert on EarthArid conditions have persisted in the Namib Desert along southwestern Africa coast for over 55 million years.
Tags: antarctica, deserts, climate, ice
Antarctica is technically the largest desert on Earth: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Antarctica receives an average of less than 200 millimetres of precipitation each year along its coast and far less inland. The figure is taken from National Geographic, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a world geography fact?
- Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.