Читать книгу Polar Exploration. A practical handbook for North and South Pole expeditions онлайн

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The Arctic, the world's smallest ocean and home to the North Pole, is primarily a thick flow of ice over frigid waters. The average size of the icepack floating on the Arctic Ocean is seven million square metres. The land that can be found in its lower latitudes is called ‘tundra’, characterised by enormous expanses of permafrost, a permanently frozen layer of earth reaching a depth between 0.6 and 4m, and occurring between latitudes 60° and 68 ° North. Greenland is also part of the Arctic, and is covered by an ice-cap that on average measures 1500m thick.

More fish live along the edges of the Arctic Ocean than anywhere else on Earth and the average winter temperature is minus 35°C, while the average summer temperature is between 3 and 12°C.

Politically speaking, the countries offering the opportunity for Arctic expeditions are: Canada, US, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greenland (partially independent from Denmark) and Iceland.

The Antarctic

Surrounded by frigid waters, the Antarctic continent stretches between 90° and 63° South