One End Is a Sea, the Other Is a Continent

Stand at the North Pole and there are about 4,000 meters of ocean below your boots. Stand at the South Pole and you are nearly 3 kilometers above sea level, on ice.

The two poles look alike on a globe, and they are close to opposite in every way that counts. The Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land. Antarctica is land surrounded by an ocean.

Why the south is so much colder

The South Pole averages around minus 49 degrees Celsius over a full year. The North Pole is much milder, at roughly minus 18. There are two main reasons.

• Height. Air gets colder as you climb, and the South Pole stands about 2,800 meters up on a thick ice sheet.
• Water. The Arctic Ocean holds heat and slowly leaks it up through the ice. Antarctica’s rock and ice do not.

Where the world’s ice is

Antarctica holds about 90 percent of the planet’s ice. If you think of a bottom-heavy Earth, you are not far wrong.

See the whole comparison on our Both Ends of the Earth poster.