ANTARCTICA is the coldest, windiest and emptiest place on Earth. It is home to penguins and teeming (丰富的) sea life along its coast. But it was only 120 years ago that the first human ever set foot on the continent. Deep freeze (冰冻) conditions over millions of years have created an enormous ice sheet (一大片) that covers Antarctica – the ice is nearly three miles thick in places! Yet the continent is also the driest desert on the planet.