Why the Arctic and Antarctic are very different
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The Arctic and the Antarctic are at the extreme opposite ends of the planet and they’re both huge and frozen.
They cover the ends of the Earth like caps, and surround both Poles – the North Pole in the Arctic and the South Pole in the Antarctic (which simply means the opposite of Arctic).
They’re also roughly the same size – the Arctic covers almost 14.5-million square km, the Antarctic about 14-million square km.
But that’s where their similarities end - it’s what lies beneath the ice that makes all the difference.
The coloured print depicts a map of part of the island of Spitzbergen surrounded by images of whale, walrus and bear hunting. Parts of the island are named 'Greeneland', 'Edgeslland' and 'Wiches Land'. Eleven images surround the map each with a descriptive title beneath. They depict the hunting and processing of whales, the hunting of walruses (called seamorces) and of bears. Published in Samuel Purchas's book 'Purchas his Pilgrimes, contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and others' in 1625. The page number appears at upper right corner.
ANMM Collection
The huge geological differences between the Arctic and Antarctic
The Arctic region is an ocean surrounded by land – the Antarctic is the opposite – it’s land surrounded by an ocean
The Arctic is the northernmost part of Earth and has flat, icy plains, glaciers, and sea ice.
While it is mostly a sea of ice over the Arctic Ocean, it’s also connected to eight countries which border it - Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Canada, Greenland and Iceland. They’re called the Arctic states.
But the Antarctic has land underneath it - the continent of Antarctica – which has three major mountain ranges. It is almost completely covered in ice and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean, isolating it from the world.
The Antarctic is on the southernmost part of the planet and holds up to 99 per cent of the world’s ice and at least 70 per cent of its fresh water.
Both regions are unimaginably cold, but one’s held the world record for over 40 years
The Antarctic is colder than the Arctic, even though they’re both icy and get very little direct sunlight.
In fact, Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent on Earth, edging out its northern counterpart mainly because it’s over elevated land and doesn’t have the warming effect of a sea underneath it.
It also holds the record for the coldest temperature ever, an incredible -89.2°C registered in 1983.
Generally, in Winter, the Arctic temperatures can drop to around –40 degrees C, and Antarctica’s to about –80 degrees C.
During their Summers, the Antarctic can get as “warm” as –30 degrees C, while the Arctic gets to about zero degrees C.
Summer in both regions is also dominated by ‘the midnight sun’, which means it’s daylight around the clock.
Their winters are long and in complete darkness, which is known as the ‘polar night’.
The Arctic and Antarctica also have spring and autumn seasons, but they're so short, you’d miss them if you blinked.
Overall, they’re not seasons as we know them – just varying degrees of cold and light (or lack thereof).
Antarctica. Image: Getty Images
RSV Nuyina. Image Australian Antarctic Division
Humans and the Earth’s extremes
The Arctic has almost 4 million residents, mainly in coastal regions with the biggest population in Russia’s zone.
The region has been home to Indigenous Peoples for centuries, but they now make up about ten per cent of the total population.
In contrast, the conditions in Antarctica mean it’s never had an indigenous population and that makes it one of the few places on Earth that was truly discovered, because humans had never lived there. They still don’t.
The only people who go to Antarctica are those working on scientific research stations or bases, and tourists. No one stays there indefinitely.
Another point of difference is that Antarctica isn’t owned by any country but governed by an international treaty signed in 1959.
Antarctica in 1959
Mounted colour slide depicting an Antarctic landscape. The image features an Antarctic landscape with Observation Hill and McMurdo station next to it. Handwritten with blue ink on mount reads: The main street of / McMurdo station.
This slide is part of a selection of 18 duplicate colour transparencies from Antarctic expeditioner Charles Reginald Ford's collection thought to have been taken by New Zealand scientist LB Quartermain on his expedition to McMurdo station 1959-60.
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Mounted colour slide depicting LB Quartermain at the South Pole Traverse. The image features LB Quartermain sitting on a snow tractor at the South Pole Traverse also called the McMurdo Highway. Handwritten with blue ink on mount reads: Me refreshing myself / on traverse.
This slide is part of a selection of 18 duplicate colour transparencies from Antarctic expeditioner Charles Reginald Ford's collection thought to have been taken by New Zealand scientist LB Quartermain on his expedition to McMurdo station 1959-60.
ANMM Collection
Mounted colour slide depicting an Antarctic landscape. The image features an Antarctic landscape with Observation Hill and McMurdo station next to it. Handwritten with blue ink on mount reads: Leaving McMurdo / Hut pt. & Obsevation hill / in background.
This slide is part of a selection of 18 duplicate colour transparencies from Antarctic expeditioner Charles Reginald Ford's collection thought to have been taken by New Zealand scientist LB Quartermain on his expedition to McMurdo station 1959-60.
ANMM Collection
There are also major differences in plants and animals on the planet’s extremes
Freezing temperatures and long stretches without sunlight limit the number of plant and animal species at both ends of the Earth.
But compared to Antarctica, the Arctic is teeming with wildlife. It has about 75 species of mammals. They include the polar bear, seals, walruses, wolves, the Arctic fox, snowy owls, white hares, reindeer, musk oxen and birds such as the snow goose and peregrine falcon.
The wildlife is supported by coastal wetlands, upland tundra (dwarf shrubs, mosses and lichens), wide rivers, and the sea itself. All up, there are about 1,700 different species of plants in the Arctic tundra, but there are no trees – they can’t grow because the soil is frozen.
It’s a different story with Antarctica which is so isolated and cold it sustains very little plant or animal life.
There are only two flowering plants in the region and most of the limited wildlife includes a variety of whales, seals and penguins, including the largest – the Emperor Penguin.
Mounted black and white slide depicting a seal resting. The image features a seal resting on ice.
The image was taken by Herbert Ponting photographer on Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 in the Terra Nova.
The slide is numbered on the lower left corner, number 31, and was possibly selected to illustrate a talk on Antarctica by Charles Reginald Ford, ship's steward on the British National Antarctic Expediton of 1901-04 in whose collection they were held, or by the photographer Herbert Ponting.
The slide sequence is numbered from 1 to 51. One additional slide by Ponting depicting 'skua gulls picking over a sealskin', Jan 1911 (also in SPRI number P2005/5/1302) is unnumbered (possibly number 21 since that is the only slide missing from the sequence).
ANMM Collection
Black and white slide depicting a mother seal and her cub. The image features a mother seal laying on the ice feeding its cub. Both are lying on the ice on their sides.
The image was taken by Herbert Ponting photographer on Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 in the Terra Nova.
The slide is numbered on the lower left corner, number 42, and was possibly selected to illustrate a talk on Antarctica by Charles Reginald Ford, ship's steward on the British National Antarctic Expediton of 1901-04 in whose collection they were held, or by the photographer Herbert Ponting.
The slide sequence is numbered from 1 to 51. One additional slide by Ponting depicting 'skua gulls picking over a sealskin', Jan 1911 (also in SPRI number P2005/5/1302) is unnumbered (possibly number 21 since that is the only slide missing from the sequence).
ANMM Collection
Black and white slide depicting a Skua gull next to its chick. The image features a close-up of a skua gull next to its chick besides rock.
The image was taken by Herbert Ponting photographer on Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 in the Terra Nova.
The slide is numbered on the lower left corner, number 26, and was possibly selected to illustrate a talk on Antarctica by Charles Reginald Ford, ship's steward on the British National Antarctic Expediton of 1901-04 in whose collection they were held, or by the photographer Herbert Ponting.
The slide sequence is numbered from 1 to 51. One additional slide by Ponting depicting 'skua gulls picking over a sealskin', Jan 1911 (also in SPRI number P2005/5/1302) is unnumbered (possibly number 21 since that is the only slide missing from the sequence).
ANMM Collection
Black and white slide depicting two Adelie penguins. The image features four Adelie penguins, two of them standing next to each other.
The image was taken by Herbert Ponting photographer on Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 in the Terra Nova.
The slide is numbered on the lower left corner, number 10, and was possibly selected to illustrate a talk on Antarctica by Charles Reginald Ford, ship's steward on the British National Antarctic Expediton of 1901-04 in whose collection they were held, or by the photographer Herbert Ponting.
The slide sequence is numbered from 1 to 51. One additional slide by Ponting depicting 'skua gulls picking over a sealskin', Jan 1911 (also in SPRI number P2005/5/1302) is unnumbered (possibly number 21 since that is the only slide missing from the sequence).
ANMM Collection
The special role of the Arctic
The Arctic has a unique role that’s critical in sustaining the world –it's used to store seeds, to ensure global food security in case of any natural or human-made disasters.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the world’s largest and owned by Norway.
It’s currently storing more than 1,200,000 seed samples from almost every country in the world.
