The polar regions represent the harshest climate known to man especially that of the Antarctic, which surrounds the South Pole. The coldest temperature ever recorded in nature was at Vostock in the Antarctic where an incredible –88°C (-126°F) was measured at a Soviet research station.
The Antarctic is a landmass, a continent in its own right, but one that is buried in ice sometimes miles deep. As if this was not enough, the bleak terrain of the South Pole is frequently ravaged by hurricane-force winds causing blizzards and bringing further misery to any life form unfortunate enough to be there. The crew of one ship, the Belgica, had the dubious pleasure of being the first people to winter in the Antarctic when the ship became stuck fast in the ice in February 1898. It was nearly another year before the exploration ship broke free from the ice, by which time the horrific conditions, the darkness and the cold, had had a terrible effect on the crew.
The harshness of the environment was tragically emphasised in 1912 when Captain Scott and his companions perished in those lonely polar wastes. Not surprisingly very little wildlife has chosen to make this bleak landscape its home. One animal that does survive there is the emperor penguin, a hardy bird which breeds on sea ice off the coast of the continent. It manages to rear its young by incubating a single egg between its feet and somehow the chick inside can withstand temperatures as low as -50°C (-58°F). Apart from scientists in lonely research stations no humans live there.
The Arctic, surrounding the North Pole, is by comparison slightly warmer, though still bitterly cold by any other standard. Unlike the Antarctic, the North Pole has no land mass of its own and lies in a sea of permanent ice with Greenland and North America as its nearest land masses. In common with the South Pole it experiences long, dark winters with no sun and long summers when it is transformed in the 'Land of the Midnight Sun' and the sun never sets. In the Arctic the summer brings a brief flourishing of small shrubs and plants and in comparison to the Antarctic, wildlife is plentiful. Caribou take advantage of the supplies of vegetation in the brief spring and summer. Animals such as polar bears and the beautiful arctic fox also seem to thrive in the conditions, while migrating birds pay visits in summer to feed on the plant life.
The traditional inhabitants of the Arctic region are the Eskimos or Inuit who have survived ingeniously by adapting to the rigours of their harsh environment. With the advent of modern technology and clothing life has become somewhat more tolerable.
Other features in the Climate Zones series:
- Temperate Zone
- Desert Zone
- Tropical Zone
- Monsoon Zone
- Continental Zone
- Mediterranean Zone
