Arctic vs. Antarctic THE POLAR REGIONS .

Arctic vs. Antarctic

THE POLAR REGIONS

http://www.coolantarctica.com

The North polar region, is called the Arctic, and the South

polar region is called the Antarctic.

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www.arcticantarcticcollection.com

L O C A T I O N

• http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth

• 90° North latitude -North Pole

• 90° South latitude- South Pole

• All degrees(°) of longitude come together at the poles.

Arctic North Pole

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/polar.html#arctic

The Arctic is the area around the Earth's north pole and includes parts of northern Canada, Greenland, northern Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Arctic Ocean.

North Pole

ARCTIC NO LAND

ONLY FROZEN

ICE SHELF

http://www.athropolis.com/library-alpha.htm

A N T A R C T I C A

S O U T H

P O L E

Antarctica a continentNOT A COUNTRY

The southernmost continent or the area around the south pole.

continent rankings _________largest Continent

COMMON CHARACTERISTICSCold Polar ClimatesThick Ice Shelves

Ice Cap No vegetation grow average temperature below freezing year round Tundra-harsh and dry, no trees only small shrubs and bushes; permafrost

Harsh and Dry, only cold air massesLast Places on Earth to be explored Animals Seals and birds

Tilt of the Earth and Solstice

The tilt of the Earth on its axis at 23½° and the revolution around the sun causes the changing of the seasons and the north and south poles to have light and then darkness 6 months of the year.

On December 22 during Winter Solstice the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Capricorn at 23½°S, and the South Pole has sunlight 24 hours a day. On June 21,during Summer Solstice the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer at 23½°N, and the North Pole has sunlight 24 hours a day.

Antarctica • Coldest windiest and driest continent

• Holds 70% of the world fresh water

• Interior precipitation less than 2” per year

• Largest iceberg ever spotted– 208 miles long and 60 miles wide

Glacier Antarctic• 5.1 million square miles• Highest Peak Vinson

Massif 16,067ft.• Lowest Point Bentley

Subglacial Trench -8,383ft• Coldest Place Plateau

Station- Average -70°C • Mt. Erebus World’s

southern most volcano

Mt. Erebus

Current Antarctic Weather

www.bergoiata.org

http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/MapSatellite/AntarcticStationsMap.gif

Antarctic

Antarctic Government-none

Several countries have claims for scientific research

– United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, Chile, France, New Zealand, and Norway

– Research stations only: U.S., Russia, India, Japan

Antarctic Treaty of 1959 provides peaceful guidelines for scientific research among nations.

List of Wildlife in the Polar RegionsArctic

• Snow bunting (bird)• Walrus• Banded Seal• Brent goose• Bearded Seal• Elephant Seal• Harp Seal• Polar Bear• Bewick’s Swan• Dunlin (bird)• Greenland collard lemming (rodent)• Gyr Falcon (bird)• Reindeer• Ermine (mammal)• Arctic Skua• Arctic Hare• Arctic Fox• Arctic tern (bird)

Antarctic

• Chinstrap Penguin• Emperor Penguin• Adelie Penguin• Gentoo• Hourglass dolphin• Killer Whale• Humpback whale• Ross Seal• Leopard Seal• Weddell Seal• Great Shearwater Bird• Antarctic Skua (bird)• Crab-eater Seal

Emperor

A colony of King Penguins at the Grand Manchotiere on Ile de la Possession, in the sub-Antarctic. mark van de wouw photos

As the adult King Penguins are preparing for a new breeding season, the chicks are slowly pushed out of the colony.

Antarctic: Anchorage Island Elephant Seals

A few Weddel Seals come to Elephant Island in summer to rest.

Part of a large colony of Adelie penguins at Gourlay, Signy Island. You can smell the colony before you see it! 

South Pole Station 90°S latitude

North Pole Expedition

Husky Dog

Inuit Native People ARCTIC

Thousands of years before Peary and his expeditions arrived, as far back as 2000 BC, a group of people had been thriving in the harsh polar environment. The Inuit, Aleut and the Eurasian Arctic cultures are defined by uniformity of practices and customs, and not geography. In the Western Arctic, the region where Peary explored, the Inuit speak Inuktitut which is written with special characters called syllabics.

Inuit clothing, made from seal, caribou and other fur bearing animals, is ideally suited for the Arctic. The finest and warmest garments placed two layers of fur back to back, thus fur was on the outside and the inside of the garment next to the wearer's skin. The air trapped between the skins, as well as the air between the fur creates great insulation. The success of many polar expeditions came from adopting the "native ways."

http://www.ih.k12.oh.us/ps/Inuit/Maininuit.htm

ARCTIC HOUSING

• CIRCA 1900 HOME WERE MADE OF DRIFTWOOD ON STILTS IN THE SUMMER, AND IGLUS WERE MADE IN THE WINTER ON THE FROZEN ICE.

http://daphne.palomar.edu/ddozier/course_notes/regions/arctic_files/arctic.htm

Arctic Photos Killer Whale, National Geographic

Walrus in Bering Sea, Alaska National Geographic

Walruses are social animals, often living in groups of over a hundred individuals. Eskimos and other hunters value the creature for its blubber, hide, and ivory tusks

Polar Bears

• Defenders of Wildlife-Adopt a Polar Bear http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/polar_bear.php

Arctic Fox national geographic

National Geographic Arctic Animal Photo Gallery

Arctic Fox on ridge Hudson Bay, Canada national geographic

Arctic Wolf

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/images/Wolf/mech_04.jpg

Arctic Hare

Skua…..the Polar Highjackers

sUrViVaL• There are four basic principles to follow

to keep warm. An easy way to remember these basic principles is to use the word COLD--

• C -  Keep clothing clean. • O -  Avoid overheating. • L -  Wear clothes loose and in layers. • D -  Keep clothing dry. • http://www.survivaliq.com/index.htm

Arctic Explorers

http://www.athropolis.com/map6.htm

Robert E. Peary-First Man to Reach the North Pole

• Even as a boy, Robert E. Peary, born on May 6, 1856, dreamed of exploring the "roof of the world," the frozen Arctic north. They had no parkas or space-age fabrics and no cell phones or advanced navigational devices, but Robert E. Peary and his assistant, Matt Henson, set out to reach the North Pole for the first time in 1905. No one had been there before. Indeed, it took Peary years to put the expedition together.

Matthew Henson• An engineer, Peary was sent on his first job to the warm tropics rather than the icy northland. In Nicaragua, in Central America, he brought along his African-American assistant, Matthew Henson who became such a trusted companion that the two men traveled together on all of Peary's expeditions. Together, they took steps toward their northernmost goal.

• Peary and Henson traveled to Greenland to prepare for the trip, where they learned survival techniques in the sub-zero temperatures from the Inuit tribes of Greenland.

• The ship they were traveling on failed to make it through the ice. They tried again in 1908, setting out with 24 companions and 133 dogs. This time, according to their calculations, they made it to the North Pole on April 6, 1909. But scientists discovered in 1989 that Peary and Henson were actually just short of the Pole. Still, Peary and Henson showed that exploration was possible in Arctic regions and paved the way for future explorers. Have you ever done something that made it easier for the next person to do the same thing?

Antarctic Expeditions

• First men to reach the South Pole were Roald Admundsen a Norwegian in Dec 1911 , and a month later Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman and his crew died on the journey home.

• Earnest Shackleton attempted to make the first Transcontinental expedition across Antarctica.

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton/

The greatest survival story of all time

Antarctic Church

Exploring the Antarctic Today

Shackleton’s Crew

Shackleton’s Hut

http://earthday.ning.com/photo/1734264:Photo:36638

How it applies to you Global Warming glaciers melting

http://www.svwsticker.com/files/svwsticker/imagecache/ImgCache-ArticleFull/users/1458/AlfedPalmersmokestacks_0.JPG

There is debate over the truth to global warming. Is it really happening?? Are we going to drown or even melt away?

http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/mull7j2/images/global-warming-fire.jpg

Adventure

• Run a marathon to the North Pole

• http://www.aboveandbeyondadventures.com/Tours/index.html

Antarctic Expedition Tour

• Tour of Antarctica from I A A T O

• Virtual Tour to the South Pole

• Antarctic Expeditions Ships

• Kid Cyber Website

RESOURCES

http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/polar.html

http://www.ih.k12.oh.us/ps/Inuit/Maininuit.htm

http://alt.tnt.tv/movies/tntoriginals/glory/arctic/people.html

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton/exhibition.html

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/reform/jb_reform_peary_1.html

http://www.coolantarctica.com/gallery/scenic/mountains/Antartica_sea_ice_Coronation_island2.jpg

http://www.coolantarctica.com

http://www.1000pictures.com/animals.htm