Which continent is the world’s largest desert, Antarctica, located on?

Antarctica is the world’s largest desert. Although it is covered by a massive ice sheet, Antarctica qualifies as a desert because its interior receives very little precipitation, usually measured as water-equivalent snowfall.

The Antarctic Ice Sheet covers roughly 98% of the continent and contains about 60% of the planet’s fresh water. Most of the continent is extremely cold, windy, and dry, with precipitation decreasing toward the high interior. The South Pole lies on the ice sheet at an elevation of about 2,835 meters.

A common mix-up is assuming deserts must be hot and sandy. The defining feature of a desert is aridity, not temperature or landscape. The Arctic is also a polar desert, but it is an ocean surrounded by land, whereas Antarctica is a continent surrounded by the Southern Ocean.