Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/18/2009 - 07:35
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Antarctic Undersea ROV 09

is there lots of snow?

Fri, 09/18/2009 - 08:15

Stacy Kim

There is surprisingly little snow, but lots of ice. Antarctica is adesert, so the amount of snow that falls each year is very small. But
it has been falling for hundreds of thousands of years, and it does
not melt as summers are not very warm, so all that snow has built up
and packed down into the ice of glaciers and ice sheets that are MILES
thick. The wind blows a lot, so we get "horizontal snow" often, where
snow that has already fallen is blown around and it looks like it is
snowing. And one of my favorite things is "diamond air" where there
are ice crystals in the air so that it sparkles everywhere.
Best, Stacy
On Sep 18, 2009, at 8:35 AM, webmaster@polartrec.com wrote:

Sat, 09/19/2009 - 05:43

Michele Cross

Great question!
We actually get more snow here in Corning, NY in one winter than Antarctica does in a year. Make sure you check out Stacy's link to check out "why".
Mrs. Cross
PS Scotty, is that you?? Make sure you leave your first name next time so we know who your are!