[thechat] the driest spot in the world

[javier velasco]

Martin Paul Burns wrote:
>
> >iris wrote:
> >
> >> --- iris  wrote:
> >> > --- javier velasco  wrote:
> >> > > ....I don't understand it though, since Antartica
> >> > is
> >> > > all about ice and
> >> > > snow, how can it be dry?
> >> >
> >> > no air humidity i assume
> >>
> >> or is it that it never rains? never gets above
> >> freezing.
>
> >so then snow wouldn't count as rain, hmm.
>
> It's because none of that snow actually falls - it's permanently on the
> ground.
>
> The definition of desert is an area receiving an average of less than 10
> inches (25cm) of precipitation (rain, hail, snow - water in all its forms)
> annually.
>
> http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/08/g35/antarctica.html

"Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth.
Antarctica is a desert. Most of the ice that covers Antarctica has been
there for thousands of years."

Amazing, I never imagined that it didn't snow in Antartica.

I thought the opposite. (I know that the borders of the Antartica do
recieve seasonal snow, the territory grows during winter, and melts
during summer) I guess there must be more than one ecosystem down there.