Antarctica contains the Antarctic Desert, the world's largest desert by area.
A desert is defined mainly by very low precipitation, not by heat. Antarctica receives little snowfall across its vast interior, and much of that snow remains frozen for years or centuries. Its ice-covered landscape therefore qualifies as a polar desert.
Antarctica covers about 14 million square kilometres, making it larger than Europe and Australia. The Antarctic Ice Sheet contains roughly 90 percent of the world's ice and about 70 percent of its fresh water. The continent's cold, dry interior is far more arid than many hot deserts.
The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, but it is smaller than Antarctica. Antarctica also differs from the Arctic: the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land, while Antarctica is a landmass surrounded by the Southern Ocean.