Antarctica is truly a unique place on Earth. And a few interesting and non-obvious facts can confirm this.

The largest source of fresh water

Indeed, about 70 percent of the world's fresh water is concentrated in Antarctica. It also has the longest ice sheet in the world. It covers an area of ​​14 million square kilometers. The thickness of the ice is 4.5 km, which is half the height of Everest. If this ice melts, the sea level will rise by more than 60 meters.

However, only 1 percent of Antarctica is ice-free.

Antarctica is a desert

How is it? How can the continent with the most water be a desert? When we think of deserts, high temperatures, sandstorms, dunes come to mind. But in fact, the desert is not where it is hot and there is a lot of sand. It all depends on the amount of precipitation in a particular area. Any area where there is no rain and no fog is called a desert.

Over the past 30 years, only 10 mm of precipitation has fallen at the South Pole. On the coast, of course, there are days when something falls from the sky, but the average on the continent is quite low. Therefore, Antarctica is a real desert.

And it does not matter that Antarctica is covered with a thick layer of ice – it took millions of years for it to form.

It used to be as warm as Melbourne

Another interesting fact about Antarctica is that it used to be as warm here as in Melbourne, Australia. Of course, it is difficult to imagine this, knowing that today the temperature of minus 89.2 degrees Celsius was recorded here. Nobody can imagine. But what used to be warm is a fact, and the continent has never been icy. Researchers say: about 50 million years ago, life in Antarctica was in full swing. Now some living creatures, of course, are also found, but people brought them with them. These include mice, chickens, cats, sheep, arctic reindeer and fish.

The fastest warming regions on Earth

Antarctica is warming faster than other areas. Over the past 50 years, the average temperature has risen by 3 degrees Celsius. This change in temperature has already caused many major natural changes.

There is no time zone

What time is it in Antarctica is a complicated question. There are different time zones at the South Pole. Most of the area in this region receives 24/7 sunlight for 6 months in summer and 6 months of pitch darkness in winter. Thus, there are simply no specific markers for day and night.

Scientists conducting their research, follow the time zone of their country. However, this may cause some problems. Any state can build its station on the mainland. If they all kept their own time zones, then it would be unrealistically difficult for them to exchange data and resources.