What is the biggest desert in the world? The answer might surprise you.

For most people, the word “desert” summons images of sand dunes, cacti and snakes. In television and movies, characters typically become sweaty, starved and parched when they’re stuck in the desert. These characters often encounter a “Hollywood mirage” and find themselves wishfully perceiving glistening pools of water and palm trees in the distance, according to TV Tropes.

But this is not the only kind of desert – and the largest desert in the world actually doesn’t look anything like this.

There are four types of deserts, according to National Geographic – hot and dry, semi-arid, coastal and cold. The world’s largest is a polar desert.

What is the largest desert in the world?

The largest desert in the world is the Antarctic Desert, which spans about 5.48 million square miles, according to the CIA. It is a polar desert with the lowest recorded temperatures on Earth, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

At Earth’s other pole is another landmass of tundra, the world’s second-largest desert. The Arctic Desert boasts approximately 5.37 million square miles, according to the CIA.

What is the largest hot desert?

The Sahara is the largest non-polar desert in the world, with an area of about 3.55 million square miles, according to the CIA.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is the largest desert in the world? Probably not what you think.