POLAR REGIONS
Polar regions include the areas surrounding the North Pole and the South Pole. These areas lie within the Arctic circle and the Antarctic circle.
Antarctica (South):
As the seasons change, the amount of sea ice and snow changes in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Click play below to watch the changes occur as the year goes by.
- Arctic Circle (North):
- The Arctic Circle consists of a large ocean that is surrounded by land and islands
- The Arctic Circle includes parts of the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), and Iceland.
- Animals that can be found in the Arctic are polar bears, wolves, foxes, caribou, lemmings, wolverines, muskoxen, and other land mammals. The Arctic Ocean is also home to many types of marine mammals, such as whales and seals. Hundreds of millions of birds migrate to the Arctic circle to feed breed.
- When the top layer of permafrost soil thaws out in the summer, there are flowers, berries, and insects. Some areas even have trees, but most areas are too cold for trees to survive.
- The arctic is extremely windy and cold in the winter. Average winter temperatures can be −40 °C. The coldest recorded temperature was −68 °C. The summer average temperature is between −10 to +10 °C, and it has been know to reach 20 + °C in some areas.
- People have been living in the Arctic since the ice ages (between 40,000 and 16,500 years ago). Until recent centuries, the Inuit in Canada and the USA (Alaska) and many other peoples in other Arctic countries have displayed remarkable survival strategies. For example, the Inuit used to make the frames of their homes out of whale rib bones. They would eat the meat of the whale and use the oil from its fat to cook their food, light their lamps and waterproof their clothing. The Chukchi tribe in northeastern Siberia still survive off of wild reindeer that they herd through the tundra. They live in double-layered tents made out of reindeer hides.
Antarctica (South):
- Antarctica is a large continent surrounded by ocean.
- There are no land mammals in Antarctica. Polar bears only live in the Arctic.
- Millions of sea birds feed and breed during the Antarctic summer. The birds that call Antarctica home are all sea birds, however, because in contrast to the Arctic, there is no tundra and few insects to feed and house non-sea birds. Some of these sea birds are penguins.
- The Antarctic continent is mostly ice-covered rock. There is very little fertile soil, only a few species of plants that grow only along the coast of the peninsula, and not many insects. There are no shrubs or trees. This is probably why no humans have ever lived in Antarctica. It would be impossible to live in Antarctica without supplies.
- Antarctica has had the recorded temperature on Earth of −89.2 °C. The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 14.6°C. The average annual temperature of the interior is −57°C. The coast is warmer.
- The first recorded encounter with Antarctica occurred in the 1820s. There is no evidence of humans ever having lived there. However, there are many camps where people stay temporarily for scientific purposes. Antarctica is owned by no one nation. Forty-six nations have signed the Antarctic Treaty, setting Antarctica aside as a scientific preserve and banning military activity on the continent.
- "Living and working in a remote environment such as Antarctica demands careful planning specialist equipment and well-trained personnel. This applies to staff both on the Stations and at remote field camps.
The techniques of polar living and travel have evolved over the years. Reliable oversnow vehicles have replaced the [dog sleds]; ski-equipped and fixed-wheel aircraft provide transport for staff to some Stations and for field scientists venturing further into the continent; and modern ice-strengthened ships, bristling with navigational aids and scientific laboratories, provide access to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Most construction and development work occurs in the summer months." - British Antarctic Survey
As the seasons change, the amount of sea ice and snow changes in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Click play below to watch the changes occur as the year goes by.