The World's Largest Ice Desert Surprisingly Lacks Ice in One Key Place

Antarctica is a notoriously icy place, and yet its clouds, new research reveals, are surprisingly lacking in the stuff.

Tiny particles in the atmosphere are required for ice crystals to form inside clouds. These so-called ice-nucleating particles, or INPs, can include mineral dust , wind-blown soil, ash, sea spray particles or proteins shed from living creatures .

Ice forms in clouds that are otherwise not cold enough by crystallizing on these airborne particles.

But over the Southern Ocean around Antarctica – the world's largest ice desert – these particles are surprisingly scarce, scientists have revealed by analyzing samples of air collected from several Antarctic outposts.

"To our knowledge, there has never been such a long time series of filters from which INPs have been det