Polar Regions are located at the very top and very bottom of the Earth – the North Pole, which is called the Arctic, and the South Pole, which is the continent of Antarctica. Mean monthly temperature of polar climate region is below 10°C. They are cold, windy, and have a lot of snow and ice. It’s even too cold for trees to grow.
The Arctic includes parts of eight countries – Canada, the United States, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.
Some parts of Polar Regions are always frozen, all year round. These are called ice caps, and they are located in the very center of the Arctic and Antarctica. The size of the ice cap changes when bits on the edge of it melt during the summer months.
Polar Regions have Tundra which is ground that is nearly always frozen. It is land that only defrosts a tiny bit on the top during the summer, but below that stays frozen all the time. That always-frozen layer is called permafrost.
Few people live in the Tundra zone, although they sometimes migrate during the summer to hunt. Researchers and polar bears and penguins are among the only beings who venture to the ice caps. Antarctica has the lowest temperature ever recorded: -89.2°C (-128.6°F) at Vostok Station.
Polar Regions have just two seasons – summer and winter (but even summer is normally very cold). In the summer, it is light for 24 hours a day (right at the North and South Poles, the sun doesn’t set for six whole months when it is summer) and in the winter it is dark for 24 hours a day.
Polar Regions get very, very cold – it can get as cold as -50°C in the Arctic, and temperatures in Antarctica have been as cold as -89°C.
Because it is too cold for trees to grow in Arctic habitats, animals find other places to live such as holes in the ground, or in cases made from snow. Animals in the Arctic also can’t rely too much on eating plants. Most are carnivores (they eat meat) and hunt for fish as well as smaller animals.
Animals in Polar Regions have adapted to survive in these extreme conditions. Some ways that animals in polar habitats stay warm are:
They have thick fur or feathers, blend in with the white snow, or hibernate during the coldest winter months.
There’s another kind of tundra on the top of very tall mountains – this is called alpine tundra. The ground isn’t always frozen there, so small shrubs can grow as well as grasses and moss.
Plants and vegetation in tundra include:
Animals and fish that you’ll find in Arctic habitats include:
Animals you’ll find in Antarctica include:
Insects in the Arctic habitat include:
Global warming is changing Polar Regions, especially in the Arctic. This means that animals like the polar bear and Arctic fox are becoming endangered. The rising temperatures on the Earth due to global warming mean that it’s changing the climate and terrain of Polar Regions. Conditions that animals are used to and have adapted to are changing, which is making it more difficult for them to survive. For example, polar bears are an endangered species because the ice in the Arctic is melting – they rely on ice to get around.
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