Antarctica averages minus 55°C at Vostok Station, yet a Lake Ontario-sized body of water remains liquid beneath four kilometres of ice for fifteen million years |
Antarctica is the coldest continent on Earth, featuring a deadly combination of extreme temperatures, high elevation and ice-covered terrain. The Russian Vostok Station here averages minus 55°C and on July 21, 1983, it recorded the lowest reliably measured air temperature on Earth, −89.2°C.Yet sealed beneath the white ice sheets of the region is a hidden…