Most people never see Antarctica, but they can feel a small part of it.
The continent's vast ice fields play a key role in driving the currents of the Earth's oceans, which in turn influence the planet's climate. When the ice forms it squeezes out salt from the oceans, leaving dense, salty water beneath the ice to sink toward the oceans' floors. This Antarctic bottom water flows toward the equator, driving, in part, the movement of other layers of water in the oceans. In turn, warm deep water from farther north surfaces near the Antarctic and releases heat.