Poles Apart

Antartica is nearly twice the size of the United States . the name Antartica was coined to mean “opposite to the artic” .

The climate of the two areas is very different . antartica is the coldest area in the world . antartica 30 degrees colder than the arctic . at the south pole nearly 10.000 feet high, monthly mean temperatures run well below zero . sometimes rise about freezing in the summer in December to march .

At both poles, daily temperatures may drop far below the monthly mean . at the American South Pole Station, winter temperatures sometimes fall below -100 degrees Fahrenheit . a temperatures of -127 degrees Fahrenheit was measured in August 1960 .

Ice is the great feature of antartica . more than 4.5 million square miles of ice sheet cover the area . in ice free areas of antartica mosses, lichens, and algae are found .

The icecap is very thick, averaging nearly 8.000 feet . at one spot scientist have found the distance from the surface to the rock underneath the ice to be more than 13.000 feet .

Extreme atmospheric changes would have to take place for this to happen .