Polar desert

Polar deserts are the regions of Earth that fall under an ice cap climate (EF under the Köppen classification).

Unlike the tundra that can support plant and animal life in the summer, polar deserts are largely barren environments, comprising permanent, flat layers of ice;[2] due to the scarcity of liquid water, the same is also true of the few ice-free areas.

However, there is evidence of some life in this seemingly inhospitable landscape: sediments of organic and inorganic substances in the thick ice hosting microbial organisms closely related to cyanobacteria, able to fix carbon dioxide from the melting water.

Climate scientists have voiced concerns about the effects of global warming to the ice poles in these polar biomes.

[citation needed] This article incorporates public domain material from Types of Deserts.