What makes the Arctic different?

What makes the Arctic different?

The Arctic is mostly an ocean surrounded by land. The Antarctic is mostly land surrounded by water. Because the Arctic ocean absorbs so much more solar radiation than the Antarctic ice sheet, the Arctic is much, much, much warmer than the Antarctic.

Why is the Arctic not as cold as the Antarctic?

The main reason that Antarctica is colder than the Arctic is that Antarctica is a landmass surrounded by ocean, and the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by landmasses. Antarctica also has a much higher average elevation than the Arctic, and the Antarctic Ice Sheet is bigger and thicker than the ice in the Arctic.

Is Antarctica considered the Arctic?

Location, Landmass & Access. The Arctic encompasses a vast frozen ocean around the North Pole, surrounded by the landmasses of North America, Greenland, Svalbard, Northern Europe and Russia, while Antarctica is a frozen continent anchored by the South Pole and surrounded by vast open oceans.

Is Antarctica only ice?

About 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, a sheet of ice averaging at least 1.6 km (1 mi) thick. The continent has about 90% of the world’s ice (and thus about 70% of the world’s fresh water). If all of this ice were melted, sea levels would rise about 60 m (200 ft).

What is the difference between the Arctic and the Antarctic for kids?

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.

What is the difference between Antarctica and the North Pole?

The Earth’s North and South poles are known as the end poles lying to the extreme points of the earth. The north and south poles comprises of the Earth’s Polar Regions….

	North Pole	South Pole
Location	This is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean surrounded by continents.	This is the Antarctic continent surrounded by oceans.

Is Arctic or Antarctic bigger?

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.