get wipped out. >> michael: when scientist came and first started studying they thought that these soils were sterile, but we've dispelled that myth when the glaciers melt and the streams flow, that's where you find life. >> anthony: so why is this area look like this? where's the ice? how come the ground is sort of soft and spongy? >> byron: the polar plateau where most of the ice accumulates starts to spread out toward the edges of the continent, but the transantarctic mountains form a barrier. so the ice sheet hits the mountains and can't get through. the other thing is there are these really knarly winds that come off, and drop down into the plateau and then rush towards the edges of the continent gushing through these valleys. >> anthony: so it's a fluky micro climate here?