Some archeologists are proposing that if there were ice-free areas along the coast, that would have been a logical route for the first Americans.

Nyrøysa, a rock-strewn ice-free area, the largest such on Bouvet, was created sometime between 1955 and 1958, probably by a landslide.

In the southern summer large ice-free areas provide breeding grounds for very large numbers of seabirds, penguins and seals.

During the 2000s, due to climate change in the Arctic, the ice-free area in late summer greatly enlarged.

More than 85 per cent of the island is covered by a gigantic ice cap, the ice-free area being mainly along the southwest coast.

The note taker had spent the summer poking around under rocks in the ice-free areas around Rothera.

Many parts of the Cairngorms exhibit classic periglacial weathering which occurred during cold periods in ice-free areas.

This list is minimal, for many more ice-free areas around the continent would qualify for inclusion at the lower end of the size range.

Similar ice-free areas in the arctic go unremarked.

My research colleagues and I found that from 1996 to 2000, one small, ice-free area of the Antarctic mainland had actually cooled.