What is the world’s largest desert by area, covering most of Antarctica?

The Antarctic Desert is the world’s largest desert by area, covering most of Antarctica.

Deserts are defined by very low precipitation, not by heat. Antarctica receives little rain or snow across its vast interior, so it qualifies as a polar desert even though it is covered by a massive ice sheet. The continent’s cold air holds very little water vapor, limiting snowfall.

Antarctica covers about 14 million square kilometres, making its desert area much larger than the Sahara. Coastal regions can receive more precipitation than the interior, while some parts of the continent are exceptionally dry, including the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

A common mix-up is assuming that every desert is hot. The Sahara is the largest hot desert, but Antarctica is the largest desert overall. The Arctic also contains polar-desert environments, but it is an ocean surrounded by land rather than a single ice-covered continent.