Interesting Facts – Antarctica is best known as the barren southernmost continent, home to glistening glaciers and snow-packed peaks that never seem to melt. Despite being surrounded by an endless supply of frozen water, the coldest continent on Earth is also one of the driest — so dry, in fact, it’s technically considered a desert.

Although the parched landscapes of Death Valley or the Sahara may spring to mind when we visualize a desert, the ecosystem classification has more to do with precipitation than temperature. True deserts typically receive less than 9.8 inches of rainfall per year. Continue reading →

Joseph P Farrell – This story, as might be expected, caught the eye of several of this website’s regular readers and article contributors, and I’m trying to recall similar stories except I can’t, unless one includes that movie by Charlie Sheen called The Arrival.

 In the opening scene of the movie, one sees a close-up of a lady (who turns out to be a climatologist), looking at a field of flowers growing in an isolated area, which field is – as the camera pulls back for a more encompassing view – surrounded by snow and ice. As the camera keeps pulling back, you discover that the lady is looking at a field of flowers in Antarctica. Her words sum up the dilemma: “This shouldn’t be here.”

Other than that movie, I can’t think of anything as dramatic as the following, for Antarctica appears to be in the middle of something of a heat wave, as temperatures in places have risen almost seventy degrees above normal.

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