It is no secret that the North and South Poles are the coldest places on the planet. However, many are unaware of numerous similarities and differences between both poles. Which is the coldest pole? And Why temperatures are so low in these isolated regions.
Understanding the Poles of the Earth
Because the Earth rotates not on a vertical axis, but on a 24° axis, the North and South poles of the planet are the parallel upper and lowermost regions receiving the least sunlight.
Both polar regions of the planet are cold primarily due to receiving less solar radiation compared to mid-latitudes and tropics. At both poles, the sun never rises more than 23.5 degrees above its horizon, with both poles experiencing six months of uninterrupted sunlight or darkness. Additionally, most of the solar radiation on the polar regions is reflected immediately by its bright white surfaces blanketed by millennia worth of snow and ice.
Between the two polar regions, which is colder? The North or South Pole?
Robert Bindschandler, a glaciologist and senior fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, explained in an article by Scientific American that the South Pole is, in fact, colder than its northern counterpart. Bindschandler explains that this is because the Sout Pole sits on top of a significantly thicker ice sheet that, in turn, sits on a continent. The southern polar region's surface ice sheet is more than 9,000 feet in elevation.
In comparison, the North Pole rests in the center of the Arctic Ocean, where the surface of floating ice only rides at a foot or above its surrounding sea. At the same time, the Arctic Ocean acts as a heat reservoir, warming the pole's cold atmosphere in the winter, and drawing heat from the atmosphere during summertime.
North vs. South Pole: What's the Difference?
Although both poles sit respectively at the northern and southern latitudes at 90 degrees, the land mass is the most significant difference in both regions. The South Pole has the land mass of Antarctica- the fifth-largest continent, while the North Pole sits on the Arctic Ocean, a hop skips away from Greenland.
Secondly, the topography of both regions is vastly opposed. The Arctic region of the North Pole contains vast landscapes of mountains, plains, lakes, rolling hills, and the edge of the largest biome on the planet, the taiga. Its ice is formed mostly from frozen sea contained by the enveloping land masses.
Meanwhile, Antarctica is 98% covered in ice, which means its regions are icy landscapes of mountains, glaciers, and smooth ice sheets. There are no significant rivers at the South Pole and none that flow the entire year. Lakes are often small and rare and are most likely frozen over. The area has no grasslands or vegetation due to its low temperatures. Furthermore, its surface area roughly doubles each winter as sea ice begins to form on its coasts and breaks up during the summer season, drifting northward as it melts.
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