What is the name of Earth’s largest desert?

The Antarctic Desert is Earth’s largest desert.

A desert is defined by very low precipitation, not by heat. Antarctica receives little snowfall or rainfall across its interior, so the continent qualifies as a polar desert. The Antarctic Desert covers the continent’s land area and is far larger than the Sahara Desert.

The driest areas are the McMurdo Dry Valleys, where strong winds, cold temperatures, and mountain barriers create an exceptionally arid environment. Some valleys have had little or no precipitation for long periods. Despite the harsh conditions, specialized organisms survive in protected soils, rocks, and ice-free habitats.

The Sahara is the largest hot desert and is often mistakenly called the largest desert overall. Antarctica’s desert classification can seem counterintuitive because the continent is covered by a massive ice sheet. That ice is a frozen store of water, but the region still receives too little new precipitation to escape the scientific definition of desert.