The waters of the Southern Ocean freeze around the Antarctic shores during the extreme cold and sunless winter. As opposed to the permanent ice, glaciers, and ice shelves, this sea ice extends for miles into the ocean, covering an ocean area about twice the size of the Antarctic continent (14 million km2). This ice melts again during the summer.
The continent itself does not change in size, but the ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent merges with the frozen sea ice, essentially doubling the size of the ice sheet.
Antarctica, the continent, does not expand in the winter. The sea ice of the Southern Ocean, however, freezes, and essentially doubles the size of the ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent.
Antarctica, the continent, does not change in size, but the ice the surrounds the continent freezes in the winter, essentially doubling the size of the ice that covers 98% of the continent.
The continent itself is land, and land does not generally change in size -- except for volcanic lands. The sea ice that freezes around the continent freezes with and connects to the ice sheet that covers 98% of Antarctica during winter, and effectively the size of this ice mass, then, doubles the size of the ice sheet that covers the continent.
During winter, the sea ice of the Southern Ocean freezes to the extent that it appears to double the size of Antarctica.
The continent of Antarctica doubles in size, in winter when the sea ice surrounding it freezes.
Antarctica is a continent that changes size depending on the season, as its ice sheets expand and contract with the varying temperatures. The continent can nearly double in size during the winter months when the ice is at its maximum extent.
Some say that Antarctica's size doubles in winter when the sea ice surrounding the continent freezes.
The size of the continent does not change. However, the sea ice of the Southern Ocean freezes during the winter months, and joins with the ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent. Essentially, this combined ice is about twice the size of the Antarctic continent.
The sea ice freezes to about double the size of the Antarctic continent, which is larger than 14 million square kilometers.
The size of the Antarctic continent just about doubles during winter, because the sea ice around it freezes.
Essentially the size of Antarctica -- about as large as USA and Mexico combined -- doubles during the winter when the sea ice freezes and joins with the ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent.
The continent of Antarctica does not change size. However, the ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent during summer merges with the sea ice that forms during the winter, effectively doubling the size of the continent.
The continent of Antarctica remains the same -- about 10% of the earth's surface. However, the ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent joins with the sea ice that freezes, and essentially doubles the size of the mass.