The primary difference between the Arctic and Antarctica is geographical. The Arctic is an ocean, covered by a thin layer of perennial sea ice and surrounded by land. ... Antarctica, on the other hand, is a continent, covered by a very thick ice cap and surrounded by a rim of sea ice and the Southern Ocean.

Why are the Arctic and Antarctic different?

The biggest difference is that the Arctic is sea surrounded by land while the Antarctic is land surrounded by sea. This fundamental difference is the reason for many of the other differences between the two regions.

Are there two arctics?

Unlike anywhere else on earth. Almost 12,500 miles separate the Arctic from the Antarctic, two “ends of the world” lying at opposite extremes of the planet. Though these regions of the North and South Poles resemble each other, they present very different and unique natural spectacles to the visitor.

What are the similarities and differences between the Arctic and Antarctic?

The Arctic has tundra where the vegetation is rich in spring and summer. Antarctica has no mammals that live on land. In the Arctic, several land-based mammals can be found, including reindeer, arctic fox and muskox. Both the Arctic and Antarctica have seals, birds, whales, fish, and krill.

Is Antarctica bigger than the Arctic?

3. The Arctic region includes the Arctic Ocean, parts of Greenland, Alaska, Canada, Norway and Russia, and covers about 5.5 million square miles. The Antarctic covers nearly the same area, 5.4 million square miles.

The Arctic vs. the Antarctic - Camille Seaman

Is Antarctica or Arctic bigger?

The polar regions cover the ends of the Earth like caps, and the Arctic is just slightly larger than Antarctica. The Arctic covers an area of approximately 14.5 million square km (5.5 million square miles).

What is the opposite to Antarctica?

The Arctic and Antarctic are geographic opposites, and not just because they sit on opposite ends of the globe. They also have opposite land-sea arrangements. In the Arctic there is an ocean surrounded by continents, while the Antarctic is continent surrounded by oceans.

Is Antarctica a tundra?

Tundra is often found in cool subarctic and subantarctic regions and alpine areas. ... While Antarctica is classified as a desert, many of the nearby islands are considered tundra, including the South Shetland Islands, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.

Can you live in Arctic?

The extreme Arctic climate makes the region a forbidding place to travel and a challenging place to live. Even so, people have found ways to explore and live in the Arctic. Indigenous peoples have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years. ... However, people have found ways to adapt, survive, and thrive in the Arctic.

Is Antarctica a desert?

Antarctica is a desert. It does not rain or snow a lot there. When it snows, the snow does not melt and builds up over many years to make large, thick sheets of ice, called ice sheets. Antarctica is made up of lots of ice in the form of glaciers, ice shelves and icebergs.

What is the coldest place on Earth?

Oymyakon is the coldest permanently-inhabited place on Earth and is found in the Arctic Circle's Northern Pole of Cold.

Does Antarctica have snow?

Rain is observed near the coast, but most precipitation over Antarctica is in the form of snow or ice crystals. ... The average accumulation of snow over the whole continent is estimated to be equivalent to about 150 mm of water per year. Over the elevated plateau, the annual value is less than 50 mm.

What is the North Pole called?

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magnetic North Pole.

Why Arctic is not a continent?

The keyword when defining a continent is the term “landmass.” The Arctic or the North Pole is a sea surrounded by land while the Antarctic or the South Pole is a landmass surrounded by sea. The Antarctic, therefore, meets the criteria to be considered a continent while the Arctic does not.

What are the 3 types of tundra?

Three types of tundra exist: antarctic, alpine, and arctic. The main difference between these types of tundra is their location on the earth. But they share many characteristics like cold, dry weather, which is why they're all called Tundra.

Is the North Pole a desert?

Basically the entire continent of Antarctica is considered a desert because it gets very little precipitation. The Arctic desert covers the North Pole. They are both called polar deserts. The Sahara Desert is the largest non-polar desert in the world.

What are the 3 biomes?

There are five major types of biomes: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra, though some of these biomes can be further divided into more specific categories, such as freshwater, marine, savanna, tropical rainforest, temperate rainforest, and taiga. Aquatic biomes include both freshwater and marine biomes.

Who owns the Arctic Circle?

All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the Arctic are under the jurisdiction of one of the eight Arctic coastal states: Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States (via Alaska). International law regulates this area as with other portions of Earth.

Where did Antarctica get its name?

The word Antarctica comes from the Greek language, antarktikos, which means “opposite to the Arctic”. In turn, Arctic comes from the Greek word arktikos, which means “of the bear”, in reference to the northern constellation called Osa Menor, in which is the Polar Star, which marks the North Pole.

Does the Arctic have a flag?

One of the most notable examples of this was a Russian research submarine that planted a Russian flag on the ocean floor at the geographic North Pole in 2007, the first North Pole flag not planted in ice. ... So no, the North Pole itself doesn't have its own flag.

Is Antarctica all ice?

Its size varies through the seasons, as expanding sea ice along the coast nearly doubles the continent's size in the winter. Almost all of Antarctica is covered with ice; less than half a percent of the vast wilderness is ice-free. The continent is divided into two regions, known as East and West Antarctica.

Is there land under Arctic?

There's no land at the North Pole

Instead it's all ice that's floating on top of the Arctic Ocean. Over the past four decades, scientists have seen a steep decline in both the amount and thickness of Arctic sea ice during the summer and winter months.

Is Alaska in Arctic Circle?

The Arctic Circle passes through Northern America, Greenland, North Asia, the Scandinavian Peninsula, and the Arctic Ocean. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Canada, Denmark (Greenland), and Iceland are the 8 countries containing land in the Arctic Circle.