West Antarctica

It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains and is covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Over the past 50 years, the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been – and still is – one of the most rapidly warming parts of the planet,[1][2] and the coasts of the Peninsula are the only parts of West Antarctica that become (in summer) ice-free.

The rocks are clad in mosses and lichens that can cope with the intense cold of winter and the short growing-season.

In recent decades, this ice sheet has shown signs of decreasing mass.

[6] This area has the warmest climate in Antarctica and the moss and lichen-covered rocks are free of snow during the summer months, although the weather is still intensely cold and the growing season very short.