Frozen Arctic Region
• Polar sea ice is melting. While Arctic ice is always dynamic—increasing during winter and shrinking during summer—during recent decades the ice cap has been shrinking in both area and thickness.
• In the 1950s the minimum area of summer ice started getting smaller. By the mid-1970s the winter maximum area also began to decline. Ice thickness has also been on the wane. The ongoing process may be a consequence of global warming. If the polar ice continues to melt, it could eventually cause rising sea levels and spur further global climate change.
• The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment—a four-year study by hundreds of scientists which was released on November 8, 2004—determined that the ice in Greenland and the Arctic is melting so rapidly that half of it could be gone by the end of the century. The results could be catastrophic for polar people and animals, while low-lying lands as far away as Florida could be inundated by rising sea levels. (Read the news story about this.)
• Robert E. Peary is generally recognized as the first person to reach the North Pole, on April 6, 1909. Peary, Matthew Henson, and four Eskimos achieved the feat via a grueling over-ice dogsled journey. On May 9, 1926, Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first people to reach the pole by airplane. Approaching from beneath the ice, the U.S. atomic submarine Nautilus became the first vessel to cruise under the North Pole, in 1958.
• July is the North Pole's warmest month, when the mean temperature rises to a freezing 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). In frigid February the average plummets to -31 degrees Fahrenheit (-35 degrees Celsius). Wind chills make these temperatures even worse and create one of the planet's most inhospitable environments.
• The North Pole spends half the year in darkness and half in light. As the Earth orbits the sun, its axis stays constant. That means for half the orbit the Earth's axis is tilted toward the sun and for the other half the axis is tilted away from the sun.
• Polar bears never, ever eat penguins. Why? Because they are found at opposite ends of the Earth! Polar bears roam within the Arctic Circle—including the North Pole. Penguins are found only in the Southern Hemisphere, mostly near Earth's South Pole, in Antarctica.
• The famous northern lights appear as bands, clouds and rays of green, red, and blue lights in the night sky. The aurora borealis (Latin for "northern dawn") occurs in an oval around the north magnetic pole.
• Polar flights allow airlines to trim hours off flight times from North America and Europe to Asia and the Pacific Region. By crossing over the polar region, planes are able to fly shorter distances and burn less fuel. The routes help keep ticket prices down and reduce harmful emissions. The flights became possible only after the ending of the Cold War, when Russia allowed commercial airliners to fly over Siberia.
• No one lives at the North Pole, but plenty of people survive in its Arctic neighborhood. Oil, minerals, and diamonds have lured waves of new immigrants to the often-challenging environment north of the Arctic Circle. In Russia, Alaska, and Canada some 170,000 Aleuts, Indians, Eskimos, Métis and other indigenous people adapt their ancient ways to a quickly shifting economic and environmental landscape.
• If you hold a compass in your hand, it will always point north. It is pointing to the North Magnetic Pole.
• The North Magnetic Pole and the Terrestrial North Pole are 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) apart.
• Some day compasses may all point south. Why? Because scientists believe that the North Magnetic Pole is reversing (going backward,) which means that the Earth’s magnetic pole may someday be located at the South Pole
•The North Pole is significantly warmer than the South Pole because it lies at sea level in the middle of an ocean (which acts as a reservoir of heat), rather than at altitude in a continental land mass.
Winter (January) temperatures at the North Pole can range from about −43 °C (−45 °F) to −26 °C (−15 °F), perhaps averaging around −34 °C (−30 °F). Summer temperatures (June, July and August) average around the freezing point (0 °C, 32 °F).
• Under international law, no country currently owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The five surrounding Arctic states, Russia, the United States (via Alaska), Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland), are limited to a 320 kilometre (200-mile) economic zone around their coasts, and the area beyond that is administered by the International Seabed Authority.
• The Arctic tern, which is a very small bird, migrates from the North Pole where it breeds to the South Pole where it lives during the winter months. The trip is 35,000 kilometers (21, 750 miles.)
• These winds on a normal summer day would blow at an average speed
of –80 to –100 kmph and last for hours if not days
• First attempt to journey to the North Pole and return using only human resources: 1992 Weber Malakhov Expedition. Richard Weber and Mikhail (Misha) Malakhov departed from Ward Hunt on March 13. Eighty-five days later, on June 14, they reached 89 degrees 39. With only 39 kilometers short of the Pole, they had to make the decision to turn back if they wanted to have any hope of returning to Ward Hunt. On June 21, due to the lack of ice, they were picked up by an airplane and brought back to safety.
Cool Links....
http://www.athropolis.com/library-cat.htm#bears
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole
http://www.hotfact.com/facts-about-the-north-pole.html
http://www.resolutebay.com/resolute-bay-north-pole-quests.htm
http://www.russiablog.org/2007/08/short_facts_about_russian_nort.php
http://www.allthingsarctic.com/default.aspx
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/11/1108_041108_north_pole.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11869042177
www.coolantarctica.com
www.antarcticconnection.com
www.antarcticaonline.com
www.southpole.com
www.southpolestation.com
www.thepoles.com
www.voyageconcepts.co.uk(OUR AGENCY)
www.adventure-network.com
www.antarctic-circle.org
www.polarworlds.info
www.antarctica.ac.uk
