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.

Conversely, the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, although they have had no ice for thousands of years due to katabatic wind but contain ephemeral streams and hypersaline lakes characteristic of extreme non-polar deserts, are not necessarily polar desert.

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.