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Both poles of our planet are covered with ice |
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They're the largest and most demanding wildernesses of all |
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Nowhere else on earth is seasonal change so extreme |
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It causes the ice to advance and retreat every year |
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and all life here is governed by that |
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When the first polar explorers headed south |
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giant cathedrals of ice marked their entry into uncharted territory |
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Passing the towering spires |
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they must have wondered what unearthly sights lay in store |
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As they battled on the ice became increasingly dominant |
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but nothing could have prepared them for the ice world |
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that finally loomed into view |
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Terra incognita - the unknown land |
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At the southernmost extreme of our planet |
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the continent of Antarctica |
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is as large as the United States of America |