Many are surprised that antartica is nearly twice the size of United States. The name Antartica was cined to mean “ Opposite to the artic “. Both Atlantic and Artic are different. The climate, Antartica is 30 degrees colder than artic. At South Pole, nearly 10.000 feet high, montly mean temperatures run well below zero . only costal regions the temperature sometimes rice about freezing. In contrast, near the North Pole monthly mean temperature often rise above freezing
At both poles, daily temperatures may drop far below the monthly mean. At the America South Pole station, winter temperatures sometimes below -100 degrees fahrenheit even lower temperature are recorded until -127 degrees fahrenheit. It the world record low temperature.
The land anilmals and plants of two region are very different . On the Antartica there are very few plants, in artic there are many plant. In some of few ice free areas in Antartica are found mosses, lichens, and algae. The land anilams in artic are foxes, bears, reindeer, and lemmings, these animal is un known in Antartica. Old rocak layers shows that this oppositeness between north and south extend far back into the early chapters of earts history
More then 4.5 millions square miles of ice sheet cover Antartica. Antartica is shorehouse of 85 percent of the total world supply of ice.
The icecap is very thick, nearly 8000 feet. At one spot, scientists have found the distane from the surface to the rock underneath the ice to be more than 13.000 feet.So if the great volume ice were to melt, the volume of the world oceans would increase