QUICK FACTS

Name: Don Juan Pond

Location: McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Coordinates: -77.5625, 161.1915

Why it's incredible: The lake's high salinity keeps it from freezing even in subzero temperatures.

Don Juan Pond is a lake in Antarctica's extremely cold McMurdo Dry Valleys region that has a salinity above 40%, making it one of the saltiest bodies of water on Earth. The pond contains so much salt, it has a syrupy consistency that never freezes, even though temperatures in the Dry Valleys often fall to minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 50 degrees Celsius).

Don Juan Pond is 4 inches (10 centimeters) deep and slightly smaller than the total area of six football fields. It is named after two U.S. Navy helicopter pilots, Donald Roe and John Hickey, who spotted the pond during a reconnaissance expedition in 1961.…