While tourists comprise only a small percentage of visitors, the vast majority are scientists and support staff operating research stations.
Dry valleys make up the two percent of Antarctica which is free of ice and snow.
The climate in the dry valleys is so severe that it is usually compared to Mars rather than any other place on Earth. Any snow that does fall rarely melts, therefore sheets of ice cover Antarctica. The waters that surround Antarctica are the coldest in the world, yet they are still warmer than the land. Incredible as it may sound, there is plant and animal life in frigid, windswept Antarctica. Algae thrives in both the summer sun and even on the winter cracks in the ice.