POLES APART

the name antartica was coined to mean "opposite to the arctic". antartica is the coldest area in the world. antartica is 30 degrees colder than the arctic.at the south pole, nearly 10000 feet high, monthly mean temperatures run well below zero and near the north pole monthly mean temperatures often rise above freezing. at the American South Pole Station, winter temperatures sometimes fall below -100 degrees fahrenheit, and the the record of low temperature was measured in august 1960 (-127 degrees). partly because of this climatic difference, the land animals and plants of the two regions are very different. ice is the greet feature of antartica. more than 4.5 million square miles of ice sheet cover the area. antartica is the storehouse of about 85% of the total world supply of ice and the icecap is very thick, averaging nearly 8000 feet and at one spot, scientist have found the distance from the surface to the rock undermeath the ice to be more than 13000 feet. but if the great volume of ice were melt, the volume of the world oceans would increase, and sea level would rise and its completely dangerous for the earth.