Ocean – a large and very deep body of salt water Mammal – an animal that feeds its young milk Isolated – far away from others of its kind Find out how the temperature changes:Ī) As the water cools but before it changes to ice.Ģ) Find out how color affects temperature.ĭ) hold both cans under a bright light and measure the temperature change inside each canĬontinent – a large body of land surrounded by oceans and other continentsĮvaporate – change from a liquid to a vapor or gas But Antarctica itself is the real king – the King of Cold!ġ) Measure the temperature of water in a freezer. The tiny midge may be the king of beasts in this cold and dry place. The midge is around twelve millimeters (about half an inch) long, and is a type of fly without wings (making it a fly that doesn’t fly!). The largest animal that lives year-round in the center of the continent is a tiny insect called a midge. Sea birds like penguins live on the Antarctic Peninsula, where the weather isn’t quite so terrible. Marine mammals, like whales and seals, only stay for a short time. The cold and dry climate of Antarctica makes it one of the toughest places on Earth to live. The Arctic is mostly white, too, but there are more patches of bare land or water to absorb heat from the sun. The ice reflects most of the sun’s light right back into space before it has a chance to heat anything. As a result, the ice on Antarctica is some of the oldest ice on the planet.īecause it is covered in ice, Antarctica is white. Of course the old snow (which long ago became ice) never melts. Because the air rarely changes, the skies are almost always clear, and new snow almost never falls. It might sound strange to call a land of frozen water a desert, but that’s just what Antarctica is. Antarctica isn’t only the coldest place on Earth it’s also one of the world’s driest deserts. It’s that dry air that turns Antarctica into a desert. The result is some of the coldest and driest air on Earth. But the air over Antarctica lost any moisture it had long ago. Here’s why: as the temperature drops, any moisture in the air turns to rain or snow. Think about what that circle of unchanging air means. This circle of very cold air keeps out any warmer northern air that might venture near. The air circles Antarctica again and again, just like the ocean water. In the sky, a sort of an ocean of cold, dry air does something similar. The ocean sloshes around Antarctica, blocking the path of warmer water from the north. Warmer air that gathers over Russia or Canada floats over the North Pole and warms it up.īut Antarctica is the most isolated continent on the planet. Even though the North Pole is over ocean water, land isn’t that far away. Weather patterns make the South Pole colder too. (Think of the snowy tops of high mountain peaks.) This extra height helps keep the South Pole extra cold. The greater your distance from sea level, the colder the air around you becomes. While the North Pole is just a few meters above sea level, the South Pole is almost 2400 meters (about a mile and a half) high. Not only is the South Pole on land, it’s on very high land. On the other hand, the South Pole is on the continent called Antarctica. And there’s a lot of water at the North Pole! It’s as if the water said, “Whoa! No more temperature drops ’til I’m finished freezing!” Until all the water turns to ice, the temperature of the ice and water mixture doesn’t get any lower. Then, during freezing, the temperature stays the same. As water gets colder, its temperature drops lower and lower, until it begins to freeze. How? Believe it or not, freezing actually slows down dropping temperatures. As this ocean water changes to ice, it keeps the temperature from falling too far. Believe it or not, even cold ocean water holds a lot of heat. Why should that be? First of all, the North Pole is over an ocean. A “warm” summer day is around 22 degrees below zero! Even the coldest winter night at the North Pole isn’t as cold as the sunniest summer day at the South Pole. The average winter temperature in Antarctica is -76 degrees Fahrenheit. When it comes to weather and climate, the things that make the poles different might be more interesting and important than the things that make them the same.Īnd different they are. They’re both cold! Yes, they are, but the South Pole is much colder than the North Pole. That’s not the only thing the North Pole and the South Pole have in common. That’s not true anywhere else on the Earth only at the poles does a line straight up point at the same spot all day (or all night) long. If you stand at either pole and look straight up, you’ll be looking at the same spot in the sky all day long. The North Pole and the South Pole have a few things in common.
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