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[[File:Icesheet-Map.jpg|300px|left]]
[[File:Horlick Mountains.jpg|300px|left]]
The '''[[West Antarctic Ice Sheet]]''' (WAIS) is the segment of the continental [[ice sheet]] that covers [[Westarctica]] and the portion of [[Antarctica]] on the side of the [[Transantarctic Mountains]] which lies in the Western Hemisphere. The WAIS is classified as a marine-based ice sheet, meaning that its bed lies well below sea level and its edges flow into floating [[ice-shelf|ice shelves]]. The WAIS is bounded by the [[Ross Ice Shelf]], the [[Ronne Ice Shelf]], and outlet [[glacier]]s that drain into the [[Amundsen Sea]].
The '''[[Climate of Antarctica]]''' is the coldest on the Earth.


It is estimated that the volume of the [[Antarctic ice sheet]] is about 25.4 million km3 (6.1 million cu mi), and the WAIS contains just under 10% of this, or 2.2 million km3 (530,000 cu mi). The weight of the ice has caused the underlying rock to sink by between 0.5 and 1 kilometer (0.31 and 0.62 miles) in a process known as isostatic depression.
[[Antarctica]]'s lowest air temperature record was set on 21 July 1983, with −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at Vostok Station in East Antarctica. Satellite measurements have identified even lower ground temperatures, down to −93.2 °C (−135.8 °F) at the cloud free East Antarctic Plateau on 10 August 2010. It is also extremely dry (technically a desert), averaging a mere 166 mm (6.5 in) of precipitation per year. On most parts of the continent the snow rarely melts and is eventually compressed to become the [[glacier]] ice that makes up the [[ice sheet]]. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, because of the [[katabatic wind|katabatic winds]]. Most of Antarctica has an ice cap climate (Köppen EF) with very cold, generally extremely dry weather.


When [[ice]] reaches the coast, it either calves or continues to flow outward onto the water. The result is a large, floating ice shelf affixed to the continent.
The lowest reliably measured temperature of a continuously occupied station on Earth of −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) was on 21 July 1983 at Vostok Station.


'''([[West Antarctic Ice Sheet|Full Article...]])'''
'''([[Climate of Antarctica|Full Article...]])'''
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