If you ask a person: “What is the coldest continent”, then the majority will automatically answer - Antarctica. But then they will think: maybe the Arctic? After all, it is she who is located at the North Pole, which means it should be colder there. And in general: is Antarctica a continent? Or is it the mainland... Is there any difference between these concepts. Some one more concept will remember "parts of the world." Another vague name pops up from a distant school geography course - Antarctica - what is it then? Not the third pole... Maybe they also have something to do with this mess?
In any case, the simplest at first glance question raises with more detailed analysis a lot of controversy and confusion. And to avoid them, let's figure out what is what.
A bit of theory
To begin with, let's deal with boring and uninteresting: we will clarify the terminology in order to further understand what is at stake:
- A continent is a large piece of land surrounded by water. It lies on the continental plate and is mostly above sea level. The peripheral part surrounds the mainland and is under water.
- A continent is the same as a mainland. No difference from geographic point there is no vision between them. These are absolute synonyms.
- Part of the world - this concept is related not so much to geography as to history.
There are 6 continents - Africa, Australia, Eurasia, North America, South America, Antarctica.
There are also 6 parts of the world, but in a different combination: Africa, Australia, America, Europe, Asia, Antarctica.
Now we can see that Antarctica is a continent. She is the mainland. She is also part of the world.
But there is no Arctic either there or there. Because the Arctic is a conditional area at the North Pole, formed mainly from ice. To remember: the name "Arctic" comes from the Greek word for "bear". It means that it is located in the north, under the constellation Ursa Major.
Antarctica - from the same language - "the opposite of the Arctic", is located at the South Pole.
Antarctica is a conditional area that includes Antarctica itself as a continent, as well as nearby islands and parts of adjacent oceans.
Let's clarify one more difference: penguins and polar bears have never met in vivo because birds live at the South Pole, and bears live at the North.
Now that we have clarified the situation, the question of which is the coldest continent will not even arise. Of course, Antarctica.
Interestingly, even if there was a mainland at the North Pole, it would still be warmer there than at the South (however funny it may sound). So in Antarctica, the average annual temperature fluctuates around -58 degrees Celsius. The maximum recorded during the observation period was "only" -12. By the way, this happened quite recently - in 2002. Apparently, talk about global warming yet they have some basis. And the lowest recorded temperature was -83 degrees. By the way, the coldest point of the continent - Russian station"East".
In Antarctica, temperatures are not so invigorating, with an average of -43 in winter and near freezing in summer. The reason for such a “warm” climate is that Antarctica is still a frozen part of the ocean, and not a mainland frozen through, unlike Antarctica.
Asian frosts
The second coldest continent is Asia. The honorary title of the coldest spot is disputed by two settlements: the village of Oymyakon (500 inhabitants) and the city of Verkhoyansk (about 1200).
From an official point of view, it should be given to Verkhoyansk, where -67.8 degrees were recorded at the local meteorological station in 1892. In the village of Oymyakon, a temperature of -71.2 degrees was unofficially recorded. The temperature was measured by academician Sergei Obruchev, whose opinion can be trusted.
It's funny, but both of these points in the summer show a completely different temperature - up to +30 both there and there. Thus, the difference between the minimum and maximum value can be almost 100 degrees.
North - from the word "north"
It is quite logical that in North America winter temperatures will be spectacular. So the minimum was recorded in 54 at the weather station "Northern Ice", located in Greenland. That year, the mercury dropped to -66.1 degrees. The mainland also has its own cold spot - a small Canadian settlement with speaking name Snow. In 1947, a temperature of -63 degrees was noted here.
The rest of the continents are closer to the equator, which means that such low temperatures are not expected there.
The coldest continent on Earth is Antarctica. It belongs to no one and is a place international cooperation. The scientists of the world are the real masters of this continent. Under the jurisdiction of the Antarctic Treaty, all scientists must exercise respect for land and resources, and use all the wealth of the continent only for peaceful purposes.
The coldest places on earth are the north pole - the Arctic and the south pole - Antarctica. All this is due to the fact that the sunbeam really warms when it reaches the earth at a right angle from top to bottom. The ray of the sun hits the poles of the earth obliquely and therefore the earth does not heat up from them, since the rays seem to slip over the surface.
And yet, where is it colder?
Logically, it should be colder in the north. But as it turned out, this is not so. In the Arctic, the average temperature is -34°C in winter and higher in summer. The average temperature in Antarctica reaches -49°С, which is the most cold climate on the ground. record breaking low temperature on our planet was -86.9°С, and it was registered near the South Geomagnetic Pole at Vostok station. The Arctic receives 7% less heat in summer than Antarctica, but the climate in the Arctic is much warmer than in Antarctica.
This phenomenon is explained by several factors. One of them is that in the vast space between the northern part of Europe and between Greenland, the Atlantic and Northern Arctic Ocean. warm waters The Arctic gives off a huge amount of heat Arctic ice, to which they freely reach, and thereby soften the local climate.
In addition, the Arctic, together with fresh water the largest northern rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean receives an additional amount of heat; Antarctica is deprived of all this. But main reason Antarctic cold is that the southern continent is the highest in terms of level among the six continents that exist on Earth.
Eurasia, following Antarctica in height, has an average height of 900 m, and the average height of Antarctica is 2,000 m. This is because the thick layer of ice covering the mainland rocks of Antarctica has an average The Arctic is only a few meters above sea level. Due to the difference in altitude between Antarctica and the Arctic, the first continent is colder by about 13°C, and at the tops of ice domes by 25-28°C. After all, the temperature of the air with each kilometer of altitude decreases in the atmosphere by 6.5 °.
Ice-covered Antarctica reflects 95% solar radiation. In such a cold climate, the snow never melts there. But on this continent is 90% of the world's ice reserves. Are they around here? fresh water reserves of our planet. That is why Antarctica is the coldest continent of the Earth, which is of interest to mankind for new discoveries and achievements.
2. The coldest place on Earth is a high ridge in Antarctica, where the temperature was recorded at -93.2 ° C.
3. Some areas of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (an ice-free part of Antarctica) have not had rain or snow for the past 2 million years.
5. In Antarctica, there is a waterfall with water red as blood, which is explained by the presence of iron, which oxidizes when it comes into contact with air.
9. There are no polar bears in Antarctica (they are only in the Arctic), but there are a lot of penguins here.
12. Melting ice in Antarctica caused a slight change in gravity.
13. There is a Chilean town in Antarctica with a school, hospital, hotel, post office, internet, TV and mobile phone network.
14. The Antarctic ice sheet has been around for at least 40 million years.
15. There are lakes in Antarctica that never freeze because of the heat coming from the bowels of the Earth.
16. The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 14.5°C.
17. Since 1994, the use of sled dogs has been banned on the continent.
18. Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano on Earth.
19. Once upon a time (more than 40 million years ago) Antarctica was as hot as California.
20. There are seven Christian churches on the continent.
21. Ants, whose colonies are distributed over almost the entire land surface of the planet, are absent in Antarctica (as well as in Iceland, Greenland and several remote islands).
22. The territory of Antarctica is larger than Australia by about 5.8 million square kilometers.
23. Most of Antarctica is covered with ice, about 1% of the land is free from ice cover.
24. In 1977, Argentina sent a pregnant woman to Antarctica so that the Argentinean baby would become the first person born on this harsh mainland.
The coldest regions on Earth are the poles. It's cold at the poles of the earth because Sun rays fall there not vertically, but obliquely. And the sunbeam warms the stronger, the steeper it falls on the Earth. At the poles, the sun's rays seem to glide over the Earth, and therefore do not heat.
And where is it colder - at the North Pole (in the Arctic) or at the South (Antarctic)? The first thing that comes to mind is that it is colder in the north. And this is wrong! The lowest temperature recorded on our planet was recorded at Vostok station near the South Geomagnetic Pole and amounted to -86.9°C. The average temperature of the southern mainland is -49°C, which is the coldest climate on Earth. In the Arctic, the average winter temperature only approaches -34°C, and in summer it is even warmer.
And all because the Arctic is just a frozen cover of the ocean, and Antarctica is a huge mainland. On the territory of Antarctica, it occupies an area of \u200b\u200babout 14 million km 2, which is almost twice more area Australia and one and a half times the area of Europe! Therefore, the climate in the Antarctic Circle is more severe than in the Arctic. In addition, Antarctica is completely covered in ice, and the ice reflects 95% of solar radiation. And finally, in the cold climate of Antarctica, the region of high atmospheric pressure with descending air currents that do not form clouds. For the same reason, precipitation does not fall in Antarctica.
Antarctica is so cold that the snow never melts in some parts of the continent. Almost 90% of the world's ice reserves are located on this continent, containing about ¾ of the fresh water of our planet.
And did you know that...
Antarctica is the only continent that does not belong to anyone, but is the mainland of international cooperation. The real masters of the continent are scientists from different parts Sveta. Antarctica has no indigenous history and is under the jurisdiction of the Antarctic Treaty, which requires land and resources to be treated with respect and used only for peaceful and scientific purposes.
V. Masalova
Antarctica- south pole
The climate there is harsh, blizzard,
Intense cold, snow and ice floes,
There are important penguins walking there.
Poems about penguins
In black tailcoats, like artists,
And in clean white shirts
Walking in succession
Royal penguins.
To everyone they meet
Shake head slightly -
Very proud of themselves:
After all, everyone will be born in tailcoats.
O. Efimova
AT Antarctica polar bear
He wet his pants.
Caught fish in the hole -
And I forgot to take my pants off!
Yes, to catch catfish on the tail,
All you need is no pants!
AT Antarctica little penguin
Learns to walk from the cradle.
If a bird put on a tailcoat,
It's not good for her to fly!
AT Antarctica among the ice
The penguin is building a house.
Thinks he'll catch a cold
If you live on the street!
S. Prilutsky
Arrived from Antarctica
Delegation of penguins.
And quickly fly back -
Your sun, living hell!
S. bird
AT Antarctica polar bear
Walks in a white shirt
And all your bear age
For dessert, eat white snow.
The hare is also jumping white
Because he is very brave.
Like a snowdrift lay down in the snow,
To see the wolf could not.
The albatross soared high
He hid his nose in a cloud.
No nose in the cloud
White bird albatross.
The white ship is going
The white cat is leading him.
In holds with milk from holes
Ice cream falls into the sea.
Happy white winter
The bins are full of snow.
White snow and white ice
A whole year in Antarctica.
L. Gromova
AT Antarctica cold
And it's snowy all year round.
But not afraid of the cold
Penguin - he lives there.
petrels fly,
Cormorants, albatrosses.
Let the seals swim
Polar sailors.
T. Krylova
At the penguins Antarctica
Kindergarten appeared,
And the eggs hatched
Forty penguins at once.
In the icy evil cold
Who will warm those guys?
Very cute, clumsy
Yellowmouth penguins?
Huddled in a bunch of penguins
And they stand like this all day
Everyone warms the back of a friend,
This is their kindergarden.
Can stay like this for a long time
Into the icy cold
Mom and dad will bring
They have lunch and dinner.
They can even sleep standing up
Dear kids,
They get tired of standing like that -
They play hide and seek.
Penguins in Antarctica
There was a kindergarten
hatched from eggs
Forty penguins at once.
Antarctica- it's true!
There is no water here, there are tons of ice.
Arrived there on the ship "Fram"
Norwegian Amundsen and there
He discovered a new continent -
Not too small and not too big.
Whales swim here in a hurry.
Penguins live peacefully here.
At the Russian station "Vostok"
They raised the flags on the flagpole.
The weather is below ten
You can't take a step in a storm.
>> Antarctica is the coldest continent
§ 6. Antarctica - the coldest continent
Geographical position. size and outline. Antarctica the coldest and highest continent of the Earth (if we take the surface of a glacier reaching a thickness of 4 km as its surface). Its territory (with the exception of the Antarctic Peninsula) is located within the Antarctic Circle. The area of the mainland, including ice shelves, is 14 million km2. The mainland is washed by the waters of the Southern Ocean, forming shallow seas protruding into the land: Wedell, Bellingshausen, Amundsen, Ross. The coast of the continent is high glacial cliffs. Antarctica is the largest "supplier" of icebergs to the oceans. 80% of the planet's fresh water is concentrated here.
On the mainland are the South Pole and the cold pole of the Earth.
From the history of the study. Antarctica was discovered by Russian travelers Fadey Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on January 28, 1820. The Norwegian Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole on December 24, 1911. Systematic study of the continent began in the 1950s. Antarctica does not belong to any country in the world, there is no permanent population on its territory, but many states have their own research stations. Our country is no exception here. Aerometeorological stations "Molodezhnaya" and "Vostok" are studying the most severe - eastern - part of the mainland. In 1959, at the initiative of the USSR, international treaty about Antarctica, which prohibited the testing of any types of weapons on it and created the basis for successful cooperation between scientists from different countries.
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