Antarctica is the southern end of Earth, a continent surrounded by oceans. It is a land of extreme cold and it has been estimated that it contains over 85 per cent. of all the world's ice. It is larger than the United States and Europe combined but contains practically no vegetation or wildlife except along its coasts. The coldest temperature ever recorded anywhere in the world was noted here (minus 109 · 6 degrees Fahrenheit) and temperatures rarely go above freezing. The wind blows almost constantly, including 200 m.p.h. blizzards. In appearance, it is like a great white desert and it includes a cap of ice that in some places is 100,000 feet think.