Antarctica is the coldest and windiest place on Earth. It is also the driest, because it has receives about an average of 50mm of precipitation in the form of snow a year, which is about the same as what hot deserts receive in rain. There is, however, ice covering 98 percent of Antarctica, with only about two percent of the land mass ice-free. This ice contains 70 percent of the world's fresh water. All the vertebrates in Antarctica are dependent on the sea for feeding or are migratory and do not stay on the continent through the winter.