The Ends of The World

An atlas shows that the polar regions extend from the Poles themselves for 2.160 kilometres in every direction - from the North Pole to the Arctic Circle. Biologists might say that the polar regions go farther. Typical Arctic weather and wildlife extend south to the line where trees grow to their full size - the "tree line" across the tundra of North America and nothern Asia.

As the Earth spins through space, the Sun's rays are never strong in polar regions. This means they are the coldest places in the world. but they have not always been so cold. Ice has built up at the Poles only during the last 30 millions years. it works like a global air-conditioning system to make the world's climate and the Poles even colder.

Arctic to Pacific

Only two openings link the Arctic Ocean to the other oceans of the world. The Bering Sea is a shallow and very narrow passage between the Chukchi Peninsula of north-east Asia and the Seward Peninsula of Alaska.Little water flows through it, in or out of the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic is a shallow ocean rimmed by lowlands. Covered by a skin of ice, the Arctic Ocean is the coldest and calmest ocean in the world. Beneath the ice there is little life. But at the ocean's edges, where the shallow waters meet the land, and the ice melts in summer, there is a mass of sea life. Around this ocean are northern Europe, Asia and North America. Snow-bound in winter, in summer they also sustain a wealth of wildlife. The Arctic is named after the stars of Arktos, the Great Bear, which dominates the northern night sky.

Farthest South : Antarctica

Antarctic means 'opposite Arctic'. Apart from the fact that both regions are cold, they are truly opposites. Antarctica is not an ice-covered sea as is the Arctic - it is a mountainous continent covered by a gigantic ice sheet, with ice shelves and glaciers spilling into the surrounding ocean. Some mountain peaks break through the ice, as rocky outcrops. However, most of the land is permanently covered by ice up to 4.000 metres thick.

Surrounding Antarctica, like a giant moat, is the Southern Ocean. In winter it is a frozen waste as the ice of Antarctica spreads north across its waters. Icebergs drift relentlessly and the surface becomes a jumbled field of broken,jagged, creaking whiteness. However in summerm where the ice breaks up, the Southern Ocean has the richest life of any ocean in the world. Sea birds and sea mammals such as seals and whales feed on millions of tonnes of tiny sea creatures. The influence of Antarctica on its wildlife extends north to the warmer water in the Southern Ocean, at the Antarctic Convergence.