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Antarctic: The Frozen Continent ECOSYSTEM GEOGRAPHY EXPLORATION CIRCULATION LINKS Most people know that Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth, with fewer than 1,000 people living there (none permanently). But did you know it is the world’s largest desert? That it hosts huge volcanoes? Has a lake the size of Lake Ontario located entirely beneath…

Home Polar Regions Antarctica: Location and Geography Antarctica: Location and Geography Most people know that Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth, with fewer than 1,000 people living there (none permanently). But did you know it is the world’s largest desert? That it hosts huge volcanoes? Has a lake the size of Lake Ontario located…

The Arctic Ocean Ecosystem: The Food Web Despite the harsh weather and the ice cover, the Arctic Ocean is teeming with life. It has a complex but abundance ecosystem that supports large predators such as walruses, polar bears and whales. Find out about this unusual ecosystem and the plants and animals that live in and…

Home Polar Regions Antarctic: Ocean Circulation Antarctic: Ocean Circulation Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean, an unbroken body of water with a rushing current that both isolates Antarctica’s coastal ocean and provides essential chemical nutrients for the Antarctic ecosystem. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the largest wind-driven current on Earth. It is the…

Home Polar Regions Human Impact The Poles: Human Impact Caribou crossing pack ice (Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, Flickr) Whale bones and skin boat frames in Barrow, Alaska. (NOAA image) Harvesting from the land  There are no terrestrial mammals in the Antarctic, but the Arctic has plenty of mammals, including musk ox, reindeer, caribou, fox,…

Home Polar Seasons The Poles: Seasons Because of the earth’s tilt and orbit around the sun, the poles receive less energy and heat from the sun. This results in only two polar two seasons—summer and winter. In summer at the poles, the sun does not set, and in winter the sun does not rise. https://divediscover.whoi.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/seasons.mp4…

Home Polar Regions The Arctic: Ocean Circulation The Arctic: Ocean Circulation Follow the water as it enters and exits the Arctic Ocean. Click on the numbers to find out how the Arctic Ocean Circulation works. Explore our interactives DEEPER DISCOVERY Seasons DEEPER DISCOVERY Weather DEEPER DISCOVERY Human Impact Antarctica DEEPER DISCOVERY Location/Geography DEEPER DISCOVERY Ocean…

Home Polar Regions The Arctic: Location & Geography The Arctic: Location & Geography The Arctic is named for the north polar constellation “Arktos”—Greek for “bear.” It is 14.5 million square km (5.5 million square miles)—almost exactly the same size as Antarctica—and has been inhabited by humans for close to 20,000 years. It consists of the…

Home Polar Regions Comparing the Poles The Poles: Extreme Weather Why is Antarctica colder than the Arctic? The main reason why Antarctica is colder than the Arctic is that Antarctica is a continent surrounded by an ocean while the Arctic is an ocean almost completely surrounded by continents and Greenland. The Arctic’s ice is relatively…