Biomes, Artic circle, Alaska, Antartica, tundra

The polar regions are the areas surrounding the Earth's two geographic poles, encompassing the Arctic in the far north and Antarctica in the far south. They are the coldest places on the planet, where low angles of sunlight, long winters of continuous darkness and summers of continuous daylight create a climate of extremes. Much of the land and sea is covered by ice for all or part of the year, and large permanent ice sheets store a major share of the world's fresh water.

The Arctic centres on the Arctic Ocean, which is largely covered by drifting sea ice, ringed by the northern edges of North America, Europe and Asia, including Alaska. Beyond the treeline lies the tundra, a treeless biome with frozen subsoil called permafrost, low-growing vegetation and a brief growing season. Antarctica, by contrast, is a continent buried beneath a thick ice sheet and surrounded by the Southern Ocean. It contains features such as the Transantarctic Mountains and the unusually dry McMurdo Dry Valleys, and it was once part of the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana.

Despite the harsh conditions, the polar regions support specially adapted life. Arctic animals such as polar bears, seals and migratory birds, and Antarctic animals such as penguins and seals, depend on the surrounding seas for food. These environments are also important to global climate and ocean circulation, and the extent of their ice is closely monitored as an indicator of environmental change.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the Arctic and Antarctica?: The Arctic is an ocean basin largely covered by sea ice and surrounded by land, while Antarctica is a continent covered by a thick ice sheet and surrounded by ocean.
What is the tundra?: The tundra is a cold, treeless biome found in Arctic and high mountain areas, marked by permafrost, short growing seasons and low-growing plants such as mosses, grasses and dwarf shrubs.
Why are the polar regions so cold?: Sunlight strikes them at a low angle and is spread over a wide area, while bright ice and snow reflect much of that energy back into space, keeping temperatures very low.

Geography:
Alaska-Antarctica-tundra	Earth and above	Montains
Biomes	Forest	Oceans and seas
Coral Reefs	General geography	River systems
Deserts	Grasslands	Tides

Alaska - Antarctica - tundra

Alaska's cold desert Alaska’s Arctic is a vast wilderness which provides vital habitat for hundreds of animal species including bears, wolves, caribou, musk oxen, and millions of migratory birds. And for those human visitors who sustain themselves on the beauty and solitude of the wilderness, the Arctic provides a chance to escape from the pressures of modern society as well as the knowledge that such remote and awe-inspiring places still exist

Alaska Geobotany Center Arctic Maps, Alaska Geobotany Center, maps, vegetation, vegetation maps, Alaska, Arctic, Circumpolar, geobotany, Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Mapping, CAVM, atlas, cryoturbation, bioclimatic zones, Circumpolar Maps, down?

Alaska wildlife images Alaska wildlife images

Alaskan volcano observatory

Alaska environmental center Alaska's Arctic has been called the last great wilderness

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (Bill Spindler's Antarctica)

Antarctica Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, iciest and most remote continent on our planet. It's one of the most difficult and dangerous places to visit, and yet one of the most fascinating and instructive

Antarctica.org.nz

Antarctic and Arctic icebergs

Antarctic experience a tip

Arctic circle the Arctic Ocean is the centerpiece of the circumpolar north. Lands bordering this region include those of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia

Arctic and Antarctica the Antarctic continent is surrounded by oceans, winds, and circumpolar currents, uninterrupted by land masses. The Arctic ocean is surrounded by continents, a tip

Arctic glossary Northern polar region of the Earth which includes almost the whole area of the Arctic ocean and adjacent areas of Eurasian and North American continents

Castles of ice During the peak of the last ice age, one-third of the Earth's land surface was covered by thick sheets of ice. Their high albedo reflected a great deal of sunlight out into space, which cooled Earth and allowed the ice sheets to grow. (See our Ice Ages web page.) Ice sheets give birth to icebergs

Conservation of Arctic flora and fauna it mission is to conserve Arctic biodiversity and to ensure that the use of Arctic living resources is sustainable

Coastal change and glaciological maps of Antarctica

Crevasse zone Crevasse zone, GPS glacier surface movement and elevation surveys on the Juneau icefield, Alaska

Cryosphere: where the world is frozen

Educapoles les régions polaires, le cycle de l'eau et les glaces sur la Terre, le climat et les changements climatiques, en Français, animations

Glacial geology a tip

Glacial systems the two basic types of glaciers, continental and alpine, form and impact the topography of the earth

Glacier Glacier

Glacier A glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years

Glacier glacier facts, questions and answers, a glossary, a gallery, bibliography and links to glacier information on the web

Antartica in the winter, the lowest recorded temperatures (without wind chill!) have reached -89°C (-129°F). The continent averages 2.4 kilometers in height (1.5 miles) above sea level, making it 1.5 kilometers (almost a mile) higher than the global average land height!

Glaciers Glacier animation

Glaciers and glaciations

Glaciers and the glacial ages glaciers are large masses of snow, recrystallized ice and rock debris that accumulate in great quantities and begin to flow outwards and downwards under the pressure of their own weight, Educypedia

Glaciers exploring nearly all aspects of glaciers including data and science, facts, a gallery, a glossary and much more

Glaciers an iceberg is a mass of ice that has broken off part of a glacier called calcen and has fallen into a nearby body of water

Glaciology Glaciology

Green icebergs

Iceberg photographs

Icebergs an iceberg is a floating mass of freshwater ice that has broken from the seaward end of a glacier or a polar ice sheet. Icebergs are typically found in open seas, especially around Greenland and Antarctica

Icebergs a majority of the icebergs in the North Atlantic come from about 100 iceberg producing glaciers along the Greenland coast while a few originate in the Eastern Canadian Arctic Islands

Nearctica the plants, animals, or the physical environment of North America

Nova- Antarctic almanac Antarctica has some seven million cubic miles of ice, representing some 90 percent of the world's total

Satellite image atlas of glaciers of the world

Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Glaciology, Permafrost, Sea Ice, Snow

Tundra the tundra is the coldest and the driest of all the biomes on Earth. This biome lies above the Arctic Ocean in the world's highest northern latitudes. The tundra covers about one fifth of the land surface found on Earth. These low swampy plains are found in Northern Europe, Siberia, Northern most part of North America, and a few places in the southern hemisphere

Tundra animals

Warnings from the ice white continent, icecore, radioactivity, chernobyl, fallout, south pole, air pollution, climate change, temperature, volcanoes, volcanic eruption, global warming, greenhouse, gases, glacier, Antarctic, circumpolar, antifreeze, glycopeptides, growler, katabatic, neve, nilas, nunatak, polynya, satsrugi

Wildlife of Antarctica no land-based vertebrate animals inhabit Antarctica. Invertebrates, especially mites and ticks, which can tolerate the lower temperatures, exist in the Antarctic Peninsula but are still considered rare. The surrounding ocean, however, abounds in living creatures

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