Why Antarctica became ice-covered 29 million years before the Arctic: mystery solved

Explanation

On July 2, 2026, an international research team announced that it had clarified why the Antarctic continent became covered in ice roughly 29 million years earlier than the Arctic. About 200 million years ago, when Antarctica and the African continent began to split apart, a geological force known as a "mantle wave" acted from deep underground, uplifting the land of East Antarctica over more than a million years. Once the mountains exceeded about 2,000 meters in height, snow no longer fully melted even in summer and kept accumulating, eventually growing into a massive ice sheet. This ice also reflects sunlight, helping to cool the entire planet.