The continent itself is not centred over the South Pole, and instead, the greater portion of Antarctica lies within the Eastern Hemisphere. While Antarctica does have high mountains, it is not because of its mountains that it has the distinction of being 'the highest continent on Earth': it is because of the thickness of its ice sheets.Antarctica has the highest average surface elevation of all the continents at around 2000m above sea level. In addition to being the highest continent, Antarctica is also distinctive for being the coldest and the driest. Despite being covered in snow and ice, mean annual precipitation is very low, and the climate can be described as a polar desert. Very little of the continent and its islands are free of glacier ice (0.32%), and these ice-free areas owe their existence to specific local-scale factors.