Regions covered by permanent ice
The uninhabited ice anthrome is characterized by permanently frozen soil, extremely low temperatures, and little or no vegetation. It is commonly found in high latitudes or altitudes where ice and snow cover most of the land surface. This anthrome is without permanent human settlements or intensive use of land (in global data). The uninhabited ice anthrome does not contribute to housing the global population or producing food calories. It occupies the sixth smallest percentage of land area with the fourth smallest percent contribution to key biodiversity area. Uninhabited ice is more represented in protected area, contributing the eighth largest percentage of land to global protected area. This anthrome stores very little carbon, ranking last for carbon storage among the other anthrome classes.
Flying over the vast ice sheet of Greenland Bernt Rostad, CC BY 2.0