Antarctica is the largest desert of the world, NOT Sahara!
What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘desert’? Sun, sand, and dunes, right? But what if we told you that deserts could also be covered in ice? Yes, you can find deserts in all shapes and sizes and they could vary quite a lot from one part of the world to the other. In fact, a desert can be both hot and cold. Therefore, by that logic, the largest desert in the world is Antarctica and not Sahara. Yes, the vast cold region of Antarctica is the world’s largest.
What makes Antarctica a desert?
So how would you decide if you could call a vast array of land a desert? It’s easy. The amount of rainfall it gets determines which area can be called a ‘desert’. So, technically, a place that receives less than 25 cm of rain each year is considered a desert. Also, deserts can be both hot and cold.
Going by that definition, Antarctica, the southernmost continent and site of the South Pole, is a desert as its annual precipitation (amount of rainfall) is less than 5.1 cm in a year. In fact, certain parts located away from the coast of Antarctica have not had rain in the past 14 million years, say experts.
Is it the largest desert?
Going by size, the Antarctic desert is the largest on the planet, measuring a total of 13.7 million square km. The Sahara, which is mistakenly considered as the world’s largest desert is actually the largest hot desert in the world. You would be surprised to know that temperatures in Sahara can go up to 58 degree Celsius during the day.
The Antarctic desert covers the entire continent of Antarctica. It is covered by a permanent ice sheet that contains 90% of the Earth’s freshwater. Only 2% of Antarctica isn’t covered by ice. This area is mainly located along the coasts where penguins, whales, birds, seals and other animals reside. Have you seen sandstorms in hot deserts? Just like that, the winds can pick up snow too and lead to blizzards or severe snowstorms. This way, it can get freakishly cold. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was minus 89.2°C in 1983 at the Soviet Vostok Station on the Antarctic Plateau.
For this reason, there aren’t permanent human residents in this continent. But there are some research stations where some 1,000 and 5,000 researchers can be found at different times of the year. The largest research station is the McMurdo Station, located on the tip of Ross Island and managed by the United States.
The discovery of Antarctica
Antarctica was discovered in the early 19th century. Russian explorers Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail became the first to see and officially discover the land of the continent of Antarctica in January 1820. The first landing was probably just over a year later when American Captain John Davis, a sealer, set foot on its ice.