Which desert receives the lowest rainfall

A.� The Antarctic desert, the coldest, highest, driest, windiest place on Earth.

�

Q.� How low

A.� Annually, less than a couple of centimetres. A similar amount to that of another very dry desert, the Sahara. But as the Antarctic's rainfall is in the form of snow, which isn't likely to melt into water in the extremely cold temperatures, then the Antarctic is drier, strictly speaking.

�

Q.� How cold

A.� The lowest recorded temperatures have plummeted to -89C, with winds of up to 300 kilometres per hour.

�

Q.� Which is colder, the Artic or the Antarctic

A.� The Antarctic because it is a continent surrounded by sea, whereas the Arctic region is sea, surrounded by land. Water retains heat much better than land. Additionally the huge while surface of he Antarctic reflects back almost all the sunlight that it receives.

�

Q.� How much water is locked up in Antarctica

A.� The Antarctic ice sheets hold around 70% of the earth's freshwater, enough to raise global sea levels by as much as 70 metres. Obviously this is one of the reasons that the stability of the Antarctic's ice sheets is of such interest.

�

Q.� When was Antarctica 'discovered'

A.� Unlike the Artic no indigenous populations have ever inhabited the Antarctic.

�

Early Greek geographers predicted the existence of the continent, even giving it its name, which means 'opposite the Artic', a long time before anyone ever set on eyes on it. They believed in its existence as the logical balance for land north of the equator.

�

It wasn't until 1820 when John Davis went ashore that anyone actually made it onto this huge continent.

�

Q.� How huge

A.� It's the fifth biggest landmass, covering 13,824,000 square kilometres.

�

Q.� Does Antarctica have seasons

A.� Yes, but only two: an all too brief summer followed by a long winter. At the south pole the sun only makes it over the horizon for half of the year, the other six months are spent in darkness.

�

Got a meteorological question

�

by Lisa Cardy