Polar Bears - There Ain't No Bears...!

Look, without sounding patronizing, there ain't no polar bears in Antarctica! Yeh, but they are cute when shot with a 500mm lense from 200 metres away. Anyway, the point of my mutterings is the difference between the north and south polar regions. According to a boilermaker, with a bad haircut and questionable language skills, the differences are:

1. Antarctica is a continent surrounded by an ocean. The Arctic is an ocean surrounded by continents;
2. South Pole bedrock is 2836m above sea level.North Pole bedrock is 427 m below sea level;
3. Land ice covers 98% of Antarctica. Arctic has limited land ice.
4. Icebergs from glaciers in Antarctica are big puppies of the Icebergs. They are measured in cubic kilometres. Arctic icebergs from glaciers are more the kelvinator fridge size. They are measured in cubic metres;
5. Antarctic sea ice mainly annual,salty and less than 2m thick. Arctic sea ice mainly multi year, low in salt and more than 2m thick;
6. Antarctica has no land animals. All marine, whales, seals, and of course penguins plus less than 20 bird species. The Arctic has on top of the ever popular polar bear, reindeer,wolf,musk ox,hare,lemming,fox plus the marine animals, whales and seals. Over 100 species of bird. No penguins.
7. But what should be noted by all Top Gear Australia fans, the reason why the Poms (Jeremy Clarkson from the TV show Top Gear) only conquered the North pole is that the mean temperature at the North Pole is a barmy - 18 C. The South Pole with a mean temperature of -50C is just a tad more chilly. Antarctica is the coldest place on earth, amen. See also my blog on Weather and Climate in Antarctica for more differences between the poles.

So there you have it. I still reckon an Emperior penguin could take a Polar bear...!

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