An aerial view of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a 15,000-square-kilometer area that contains cold desert soils millions of years old, special geological features, and unusual communities of plants and microorganisms. Its landscape includes glaciers, mountain ranges, ice-covered lakes, ephemeral streams, arid patterned soils and permafrost, sand dunes, and watershed systems. It is a region where life exists at the very extreme of environmental limits. See the McMurdo Dry Valleys website for more information.