heart of antarctica

1. When a meteroid enters the earth’s atmosphere, it becomes a  meteor that glows. This is what you are watching when you see a "falling star." If this rock from space survives its fall to earth, the rock is called a meteorite.

2. Scientists that study exobiology look for primitive life-forms on earth that could be similar to those found living on other planets.

3. A glacier is a large body of ice that flows according to the shape of the land beneath it, while an ice sheet is so big and covers so many features of the land that it flows wherever it wants.

4. When an ice-sheet flows out over the ocean, it creates an ice shelf. However, when separate pieces of the ice-sheet break off and float in the ocean, they are called icebergs.

5. The exposed peak of a mountain that is buried in snow and ice is called a nunatak.

6. In Antarctica, explorers have to be very careful not to fall into big cracks in the ice, called crevasses.

7. A sun-cup forms when a rock is heated by the sun and slowly melts into the ice beneath it.

8. Strong catabatic winds flow from the polar plateau north in all directions across Antarctica.

blue ice                 crevasses                      exobiology                     glacier

ice sheet                asteroid                         icebergs                        meteor

meteorite              nunatak                          pack ice                       sun-cup