9 interesting things about Antarctica and Arctic

The two polar regions of the Earth, where the climate is always cold, but Antarctica and Arctic contain many different things, such as polar bears and Antarctic penguins, where it is colder and contains more black gold. .

What is the arctic?

The North Pole or the North Pole of the Earth (Geographic North Pole) is a latitude of +90 degrees on Earth (or the starting point of all meridians). In the Arctic, all directions are South. Covering it is the Arctic Ocean. The North Pole point above is the North Pole, this is just an imaginary point and it is different from the pole from the North of the Earth. The North Pole is a true point at Bathurst Island, Canada and 1600km away from the North Pole, with coordinates of 82.7 ° B 114.4 ° T.

The geographic north pole is the intersection of the rotation axis of the Earth and the Earth's surface in the Northern Hemisphere, chosen as the latitude. Here, in the direction of a straight line, it will meet the fixed point of the celestial sphere.

1. The opposition of 2 poles

The North Pole is a frozen ocean, surrounded by land. Meanwhile, on the contrary, Antarctica is a continent with mountains and lakes and surrounded by oceans. With an area of ​​14,000,000 km2, Antarctica is considered the largest desert in the world.

Antarctica is the largest desert in the world

From a social and political point of view, the northernmost region includes the northern part of Canada, the United States, Greenland (Danish territory), Russia, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

2. Volume of tape

The continent's farthest southern part has approximately 90% of the world's ice , with reserves of about one-third of Earth's freshwater being held in the form of ice here. The ice in Antarctica is 3.5 km thick. Meanwhile, in the Arctic, this cold ice layer is only 2m to 4m thick.

The ice is 3.5 km thick in Antarctica

It was this large ice reserves that gave birth to the idea of ​​dragging these giant glaciers to drought areas.Prince Mohammed al Faisal of Saudi Arabia once planned to move 100 million tons of Antarctic magnetic tapes to his country.

Antarctica is a huge freshwater reserve.

3. Land without shadow

Despite the iconic images of the adventurers of the past, putting the flags majestically on the South Pole, this is still the only place on the Earth not owned by anyone.

This state is maintained by the existence of the Antarctic Treaty . Accordingly, the land and resources of Antarctica are used for peaceful purposes and scientific research.

It is completely different from more than 4 million people living in the northernmost circle , in small towns or cities, such as: Barrow, Alaska (USA); Tromso (Norway); Muramansk and Salekhaard (Russia).

Antarctica has many flags but not one person.

4. Black gold

Many countries are hungry for resources in the northernmost circle - which contains up to a quarter of the untapped oil reserves reported by American scientists.

Russia is making clear moves in claiming territory with a large area of ​​the Arctic, which can contain huge amounts of oil up to 10 billion tons. In response to that move, the US government also sent an icebreaker ship to map the territory in the Alaska region .

In the south, there are also hypotheses that gas reserves are located on this southern continental shelf, especially in the area under the Ross Sea, but the exploitation is restricted entirely by the Antarctic Treaty.

A huge amount of oil remains hidden under the Arctic ice

What is Antarctica?

Antarctica or South Pole Geography is a point with a latitude of -90 degrees on Earth. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and is on the opposite side of the Arctic. No point on Earth is south of Antarctica and there is no Antarctic nation.

Antarctica is the intersection point between the rotating axis and the south surface of the Earth. Antarctic differs from the male pole (the point where every male end of the compass needle in the compass is placed in the other direction and at the magnetic pole, the compass needle is oriented in the direction perpendicular to the ground, with the coordinates of 64 ° 31′48 ″ N 137 ° 51′36 ″ D) due to the difference between the rotating axis and the Earth's magnetic axis. Antarctica is determined at a point with an altitude of 2800m above average sea level.

For most purposes, the Southernmost Geography is defined as the southern point of two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface (the other is the North Pole). However, the Earth's rotation actually has a rather small "shaking" phenomenon, so this definition is not enough for jobs that require high precision.

Geographic coordinates of Antarctica are often considered simply 90 ° South, because its longitude is not geographically defined and inappropriate. When a longitude is needed, it can be considered 0 ° West. In Antarctica all directions are north. For this reason, the directions in Antarctica are "north only", heading north along the original meridian.

5. Penguins and bears

Coke's Christmas cards or commercials often include household registration for white bears and penguins.

Emperor penguins

In fact, penguins live only in Antarctica and white bears live only in the Arctic. Therefore, the humble penguins cannot be a good prey for giant bears.

6. Santa's residence

Every Christmas season, thousands of letters are sent to Santa in the North Pole . But where is Santa in the North Pole? The Finns claim that Santa is their "citizen" . But 17788 Americans in Alaska also advertised their area code as Santa's address. Alaska is the favorite habitat of big reindeer, the main driving force of the vehicle to help Santa deliver gifts around the world.

7. The battle of the cold

Antarctica is the coldest continent (lowest temperature is -89 degrees Celsius), the highest (average altitude is 2,350), the driest (average annual rainfall is only 55mm ) and the strongest wind (maximum wind speed here is 100m / s) on Earth.

The winds of 100m / s in Antarctica are
dubbed the "killer wind"

Meanwhile, the average winter temperature in the Arctic is only about -34 degrees Celsius, but it's warmer in the summer. The lowest temperature record recorded on Earth is - 89.6 degrees Celsius, recorded on July 21, 1983 at Vostok station near the South pole.

8. Hole in Ozone layer

While a hole in the Antarctic ozone layer is growing, three times the size of the US surface, the Arctic is also falling into a similar disaster.

However, there is a fact that there is no real gap. The concept "hole" here refers to an ozone-free atmosphere, chemicals that help protect our planet from the harmful effects of solar radiation.

The ozone loss in the Northern Hemisphere is lower than in the South because the temperature of the warmer Arctic limits the formation of stratospheric cloud layer , which causes ozone destruction.

9. Melting ice

The ice is getting thinner and thinner - that's a warning from researchers.

The Arctic is very sensitive to climate change . Warmer temperatures during the summer months dissolve 4-5m thick ice sheets. Scientists also predict that ice sheets up to 3.2 km thick in the Greenland Islands are melting very fast, making it only half as late in the century.

The ice melted faster than expected by scientists .

As for Antarctica, the studies also realized that ice is melting, and no one wants it to happen, because if so, the sea level will rise to 60m, an unimpressive number that can cause disaster on Much of the rest of the earth.