Duchess of Bedford, Arctic Ocean, Anglo-American Polar Expedition.

Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska.  E.K. Leffingwell.

USGS. 1906. Permission to CoveBear

There are many icy places in the world.  The coldest are at the top and bottom of the earth.  The top place is called the Arctic, around the North Pole.  The bottom place is called Antarctica, around the South Pole.  Other places, such as Lapland, are near the Arctic, but are called sub-Arctic.

THE ARCTIC

The Arctic is located in parts of Canada, United States (Alaska), Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland (part of Denmark).  The word Arctic comes from the Greek word arktos, meaning bear, a reference to the constellation.

ARCTIC WEATHER

The Arctic contains the Arctic Ocean, and the whole area is extremely cold, and because of the extreme conditions there, it is very difficult for plants, animals, and people to live there - but they do.  Winter temperature there can drop to minus 40 degrees F. down to minus 90.  Winds can be ferocious, and winters are stormy.  The Arctic has long dark winters, and short summers with very long sunlit days.  The summers are long enough, with their continuous sunny days, to support life.  However, they are not long enough nor warm enough to melt all of the ice or unfreeze all of the ground.  At least six month of snow cover most part of the Arctic every year.

ARCTIC (NORTHERN) LIGHTS

The aurora borealis are colored light shows in the sky that occur at the North and South poles, and can be seen by people in countries south of the Arctic.  They occur naturally, and are frequently green, blue, purple, and red.  The northern polar lights can be seen September to October and March to April, and visible only in the Northern Hemisphere. Sometimes the lights in the sky are seen in sweeping arcs, sometimes they are seen in curtains or vertical sheets of color. The magnetic storms associated with sunspots contribute to these light shows.  Some call them geo-magnetic storms of light.

"Auroras form when a "solar wind" of charged particles from the Sun enters Earth's magnetic field, accelerating electrically charged particles trapped within. The high-speed particles then crash into Earth's upper atmosphere over the polar regions, causing the atmosphere to emit a ghostly, multicolored glow." - NASA
 

ARCTIC LIFE

Plants - There are no trees that can survive in the Arctic.  Most vegetation grows low to the ground to gain as much warmth from the earth as possible.  In the coldest places there, lichens and mosses are found on acres and acres of seemingly barren ground with small patches of grasses here and there.  In slightly warmer areas of the Arctic, little shrubs are found, and further out, the shrubs may grown to a height of six feet. Even in this environment, flowers such as poppies and marigolds will grow in summer.  Much land there is frozen, and is called tundra.

Animals - There are many animals that survive in the Arctic.  Mammals include polar bears, Arctic foxes (see below), lynx, and wolves that prey on smaller animals there such as lemmings, Arctic ground squirrels, wolverines, and Arctic hares (rabbits).  Other larger mammals there include caribou, moose, and muskox.  Arctic mammals tend to have very thick dense warm fur most of the year to keep the warm.  Most mammals there are rounded in shape and low to the ground, to conserve warmth.  The polar bear's skin is actually black, to help him absorb heat from the sun. Bears den in the winter, and ground squirrels hibernate during the winter. Another way that Arctic mammals stay warm is by growing lots of fat or blubber.  This fat acts as insultation against icy winds and icy waters. Marine animals that like to live near and in the water include walrus, seals, and whales.  Birds include many types of seabirds such as divers, terns, and gulls; swans, geese, and ducks; curlew, gotwit, plover, and dowitcher; waders such as plover, stint, sandpiper, and dotterel; cranes such as whooping crane and sandhill crane.  All of these birds like to live near water.  Other birds in the Arctic and sub-Arctic include ptarmigan, puffin, snowy owl, peregrine falcon, and more.   Some Arctic birds stay there all year, while others, such as the Arctic tern, migrate south during winter.  Arctic fish don't freeze because they have a protein in their blood that acts like the anti-freeze in your car.  Amphibians such as the wood frog, allow their bodies to freeze nearly solid in the Arctic winter, and then thaw out in the spring.  There are also insects that live in the Arctic, including flies, bees, and mosquitoes.

Arctic Fox

People - The people who are native to these northern icy places are Inuits.  They rely on the animals and plants there to survive.  There is even an Arctic cotton that grown in icy places that the Inuit can use to make fabric.  They use animal furs in their clothing to keep warm.  They once used only dog sleds for transportation across the ice and snow, now they also use snowmobiles.  Their boats were made from animals skins.  Temporary homes for use during winter hunting and fishing expeditions are made from blocks of ice and snow; they are called igloos. During summer hunting trips, tents are used. 

* * *

THE ANTARCTIC - the continent of ANTARCTICA

This continent, another very icy place, is located at the South Pole.  It is in the Southern Hemisphere, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. 98% of Antarctica is covered with ice.

 

Antarctica. Icefall south of Tucker Glacier in the Hallett Peninsula

area of northern Victoria Land. November 6, 1964.  USGS.  Permission to CoveBear

ANTARCTIC WEATHER

The Antarctic region is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on earth, and not much lives there.  The environment is very harsh, and only very sturdy plants and animals that are specially adapted to that environment can survive there.  Drakes Passage is in the ocean of Antarctica, and many ships have been lost there due to extraordinarily rough seas and high winds.  Antarctica is called a "desert" because not much life can tolerate its extreme conditions. 

ANTARCTIC TREATY

The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 was signed by 12 countries at that time, and has been signed by a total of 46 countries since it was ratified.  This treaty supports scientific research and protects the region of Antarctica; it prohibits military activities and mineral exploration there. No people live there, although thousands of scientists each year visit the region.  The Treaty also called for the removal of all sled dogs from Antarctica, for the fear that canine distemper could possibly spread to the seals that live there.  There have been no dogs allowed there since 1994.  Previously, the dog sleds were the only mode of transportation there, now that is mechanized. Antarctic Huskies were commonly used by scientists there for the previous 100 years.

ANTARCTIC (SOUTHERN) LIGHTS

The aurora borealis are colored light shows in the sky that occur at the North and South poles, and can be seen by people in countries south of the Arctic.  They occur naturally, and are frequently green, blue, purple, and red.  See above for full description and recent (May 2008 photos.

Chinstrap Penguins in Summer, 1995

Photo by Lieutenant Philip Hall, NOAA Corps
NOAA Library Animal Photo Collection - With Permission

ANTARCTIC LIFE

Plants - The only plants that live on ground that can support life in this region, are many kinds of mosses, many kinds of lichens, a few types of fungi, and a liverwort.  There is also an Antarctic hair grass that grows on the west coast, near the shoreline.  Lichens can survive extreme cold and so are adapted to icy places. Lichen has been found there that is 200 to 4,000 years old.  It is an extremely hearty and slow-growing plant.  Algae is also found there.

Emperor Penguins near the Ross Sea in Antarctica, 1999

Photo by Michael Van Woert, NOAA NESDIS, ORA

NOAA Library Animal Photo Collection - With Permission

Animals - There are several kinds of birds including these penguins in Antarctica: Adelie, Chinstrap, Gentoo, King, and Emperor Penguins. They all eat fish and thrive in this harsh environment. Other birds include giant petral, cape pigeon, wandering albatross, Antarctic skua, and Antarctic tern. There are also several kinds of seals there: Crabeater, Southern Elephant, Weddell, Southern Fur, and Leopard Seals.  Whales visit the waters there.  Most of the animals there depend on the sea for food.  Only 67 species of insects have been found there, and most of them are small and live in animal fur or feathers.

Adelie Penguin on Sea Ice in Antarctica, 1998

Photo by Michael Van Woert, NOAA NESDIS, ORA

NOAA Library Animal Photo Collection - With Permission