North vs. South Poles – The Differences between the Arctic and Antarctic

Land and Water

The main difference is that the Arctic region is a gigantic mass of floating ice surrounded by land. The Antarctic is a continent with mountain ranges and plateaus surrounded by an ocean.

Ice

The southernmost continent has 90% of the world’s ice .About three quarters of the world’s freshwater is locked up in these frozen reserves.

About half of the ice disappears in the Arctic during the summer months. It grows back to about the size of the United States during the winter. Studies have showed that the Arctic ice is melting so rapidly that in the entire area could be ice-free during the summer in a few decades. Recently, scientists have found out that the Antarctic ice sheets are melting too, but not that much.

The Ozone Layer

The hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic has grown very much over the last few decades. The Arctic is not losing so much ozone because of warmer temperatures.

Temperatures

The Antarctic’s average temperature is about -49 ° Celsius. This makes it the coldest place on the planet. The average Arctic temperature during the winter months is – 34° Celsius but it gets warmer in the summer. The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89°Celsius, at the Antarctic Vostok station in July 1983.

Energy

Even though there are probably oil and gas reserves under the Antarctic continent, the Antarctic Treaty forbids drilling. Energy hungry nations on the other side are moving north. About a quarter of all oil reserves are said to lie north of the Arctic Circle .

No Man’s Land

Past explorers have repeatedly planted flags at the South Pole to claim it for their country. However, the continent is the only place on Earth that is not owned by anyone. It does not have any native people and land and resources may only be used for peaceful purposes. On the other side, there are about 4million people living north of the Arctic Circle. Major cities include Barrow, Alaska or Murmansk, Russia.