How are Antarctic and Arctic different?

On our Earth there are 2 polar regions: the Arctic (Arctic - derived from Greek Arktikos) located in the North and Antarctica (Antarctic - derived from the Greek Antarktikos) is located in the South . So in addition to the name, we have no way to distinguish them while both are the harshest place in the world?

These two regions have quite a number of opposing points , the Arctic is actually an ocean surrounded by the mainland and Antarctica is a continent surrounded by the ocean. About endemic animals, the Arctic has white bears without penguins and Antarctica has penguins without a white bear.

North Pole

The Arctic includes a vast icy ocean surrounded by permafrost that is hard to survive. When standing at the North Pole, no matter which direction you look at, it is South. The North Pole is in the middle of the ocean, covered by thick ice and often moving. If you fall into the water, you will become an ice fossil and sink to depths of up to 4000m.

On the surface of the water, the average temperature in winter can fall below -40 degrees Celsius and the coldest temperature ever recorded is about -68 degrees Celsius. Despite these harsh conditions, people still have a population. settled in the North Pole for thousands of years. In addition to humans, the Arctic ecosystem also has living organisms on ice, zooplankton, fish, birds, aquatic mammals, land animals and plants.

Antarctic

Antarctica is a continent located at the southernmost tip of the Earth. It is the fifth largest continent in the world with an area of ​​more than 14,000,000 km ² , nearly 2 times the size of Australia. About 98% of the Antarctic area is at least 1,600m in snow and ice, so living conditions in Antarctica are considered the harshest in the world.

Antarctica possesses the most things including: the coldest continent, the most windy, the driest and the highest altitude above the highest average sea level in all continents. Although snow falls all day, Antarctica is very dry, it is considered a desert with an average annual rainfall of only 200 mm along the coast and much less if deep into the mainland.

The temperature in Antarctica can reach -89 degrees Celsius. Because it is so harsh, there are no inhabitants, only about 1000-5000 people live in research stations distributed along the continent. Even animals and plants are very rare, only those that are adaptable to the cold can survive, including algae, protozoa, bacteria, fungi and a few plants and animals .

But why is Antarctica colder than the North Pole?

There are many reasons to explain this issue:

First of all , do you know why there are snow on the peaks? That's because the higher the temperature, the lower the temperature and that explains the reason why Antarctica is so cold, most of the continent is 3,000 meters above sea level.

Second, remember that the Arctic is actually a frozen ocean whose water is better than the mainland, the warmer ocean water will transmit heat through the ice, which makes the temperature in the Arctic reaches the maximum level as the land surface in Antarctica.

1. Tuesday, the seasons are against Antarctica . Around July, when the Earth was farther away from the Sun, the Northern Hemisphere turned toward the Sun and became warmer, while the southern hemisphere turned away from the sun, making it even colder and at the same time winter in Antarctica, making the South pole twice as cold.

But although it is not a residence, the North Pole and the South Pole have positive effects on the Earth in its own way.Both polar regions are 'centers' that regulate climate very important to our planet , they help to balance the temperature and give us a stable climate. And when the Arctic ice falls due to climate change, the climate on Earth becomes unstable.