It's no secret that the polar regions of the Earth are its most severe places. For centuries, people have made attempts to first simply get to them, and then study them. So what have we learned about the two opposite poles of the Earth?
1. Where is the North and South Pole: 4 types of poles
Actually there are 4 types North Pole in terms of science:
The north magnetic pole is the point on the earth's surface to which magnetic compasses are directed.
North geographic pole - located directly above the geographic axis of the Earth
North geomagnetic pole - connected with the Earth's magnetic axis
The North Pole of Inaccessibility is the most north point in the Arctic Ocean and the farthest from the earth on all sides
4 types of South Pole were also established:
The south magnetic pole is the point on the earth's surface where the earth's magnetic field is directed upward
Geographic South Pole - a point located above the geographic axis of rotation of the Earth
South geomagnetic pole - connected with the Earth's magnetic axis in the southern hemisphere
The South Pole of Inaccessibility is the point in Antarctica, the furthest from the coast of the Southern Ocean.
In addition, there is the ceremonial South Pole, an area designated for photography at Amundsen-Scott Station. It is located a few meters from the geographic south pole, but since the ice sheet is constantly moving, the mark shifts every year by 10 meters.
2. Geographic North and South Pole: ocean versus continent
The North Pole is essentially a frozen ocean surrounded by continents. In contrast, the South Pole is a continent surrounded by oceans. 
In addition to the Arctic Ocean, the Arctic region (North Pole) includes part of Canada, Greenland, Russia, USA, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The southernmost point of the earth - Antarctica is the fifth largest continent, with an area of 14 million square meters. km, 98 percent of which is covered by glaciers. It is surrounded by the southern part Pacific Ocean, the South Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
Geographic coordinates of the North Pole: 90 degrees north latitude.
Geographic coordinates of the South Pole: 90 degrees south latitude.
All lines of longitude converge at both poles.
3. The South Pole is colder than the North Pole
The South Pole is much colder than the North Pole. The temperature in Antarctica (South Pole) is so low that in some places on this continent the snow never melts. 
The average annual temperature in this area is -58 degrees Celsius in winter, and the highest temperature recorded here in 2011 was -12.3 degrees Celsius.
In contrast, the average annual temperature in the Arctic region (North Pole) is -43 degrees Celsius in winter and about 0 degrees in summer.
There are several reasons why the South Pole is colder than the North. Since Antarctica is a huge landmass, it receives little heat from the ocean. In contrast, the ice in the Arctic region is relatively thin and there is an entire ocean underneath that moderates the temperature. In addition, Antarctica is located on a hill at an altitude of 2.3 km and the air here is colder than in the Arctic Ocean, which is at sea level.
4. There is no time at the poles
Time is determined by longitude. So, for example, when the Sun is directly above us, local time shows noon. However, at the poles, all lines of longitude intersect, and the Sun rises and sets only once a year on the equinoxes. 
For this reason, scientists and explorers at the poles use whatever time zone they prefer. As a rule, they are guided by Greenwich Mean Time or the time zone of the country from which they arrived.
Scientists at Amundsen-Scott Station in Antarctica can do a quick run around the world, traversing 24 time zones in a few minutes.
5. Animals of the North and South Pole
Many people have the misconception that polar bears and penguins are in the same habitat. 
In fact, penguins live only in the southern hemisphere - in Antarctica, where they have no natural enemies. If polar bears and penguins lived in the same area, polar bears wouldn't have to worry about their food source.
Among the marine animals of the South Pole are whales, porpoises and seals.
Polar bears, in turn, are the largest predators in the northern hemisphere. They live in the northern part of the Arctic Ocean and feed on seals, walruses and sometimes even beached whales.
In addition, animals such as reindeer, lemmings, foxes, wolves, as well as marine animals such as beluga whales, killer whales, sea otters, seals, walruses and more than 400 known species of fish live at the North Pole.
6. No Man's Land
Despite the fact that many flags can be seen at the South Pole in Antarctica different countries, this is the only place on earth that does not belong to anyone, and where there is no indigenous population. 
There is an agreement on Antarctica, according to which the territory and its resources must be used exclusively for peaceful and scientific purposes. Scientists, explorers, and geologists are the only people who set foot on Antarctica from time to time.
On the contrary, more than 4 million people live in the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia.
7. polar night and polar day
The poles of the Earth are unique places where the longest day is observed, which lasts 178 days, and the most long night, which lasts 187 days. 
At the poles, there is only one sunrise and one sunset per year. At the North Pole, the Sun begins to rise in March on the vernal equinox and sets in September on the autumn equinox. At the South Pole, on the contrary, sunrise is during the autumn equinox, and sunset is on the day of the vernal equinox.
In summer, the Sun is always above the horizon here, and the South Pole receives sunlight around the clock. In winter, the Sun is below the horizon when there is 24-hour darkness.
8. Conquerors of the North and South Pole
Many travelers have tried to get to the poles of the Earth, losing their lives on the way to these extreme points our planet.
Who first reached the North Pole?
There have been several expeditions to the North Pole since the 18th century. There is controversy over who reached the North Pole first. In 1908, American traveler Frederick Cook became the first to claim to have reached the North Pole. But his compatriot Robert Peary denied this statement, and on April 6, 1909, he officially began to be considered the first conqueror of the North Pole.
First flight over the North Pole: Norwegian traveler Roald Amundsen and Humberto Nobile on May 12, 1926 on the airship "Norway".
First submarine at the North Pole: nuclear submarine "Nautilus" August 3, 1956
First trip to the North Pole alone: Japanese Naomi Uemura, April 29, 1978, traveled 725 km by dog sled in 57 days
First skiing expedition: Dmitry Shparo's expedition, May 31, 1979. Participants walked 1,500 km in 77 days.
The first to swim across the North Pole: Lewis Gordon Pugh swam 1 km in water at -2 degrees Celsius in July 2007.
Who first reached the South Pole?
The first explorers of the South Pole were the Norwegian traveler Roald Amundsen and the British explorer Robert Scott, after whom the first station at the South Pole, the Amundsen-Scott station, was named. Both teams went different ways and reached the South Pole with a difference of several weeks, the first was Amundsen on December 14, 1911, and then R. Scott on January 17, 1912.
First flight over the South Pole: American Richard Byrd, in 1928
The first to cross Antarctica without the use of animals and mechanical transport: Arvid Fuchs and Reinold Meissner, December 30, 1989
9. North and South Magnetic Pole of the Earth
Earth's magnetic poles are associated with magnetic field Earth. They are in the north and south, but do not coincide with the geographic poles, as the magnetic field of our planet is changing. Unlike geographic, magnetic poles shift. 
The north magnetic pole is not located exactly in the Arctic region, but is moving east at a rate of 10-40 km per year, as the magnetic field is influenced by underground molten metals and charged particles from the Sun. The South Magnetic Pole is still in Antarctica, but it is also moving westward at a rate of 10-15 km per year.
Some scientists believe that one day a change in the magnetic poles can occur, and this can lead to the destruction of the Earth. However, the reversal of the magnetic poles has already occurred, hundreds of times over the past 3 billion years, and this has not led to any dire consequences.
10. Melting ice at the poles
Ice in the Arctic at the North Pole tends to melt in the summer and refreeze in the winter. However, for last years, the ice cap began to melt at a very rapid pace. 
Many researchers believe that by the end of the century, and maybe in a few decades, the Arctic zone will remain without ice.
On the other hand, the Antarctic region at the South Pole contains 90 percent of the world's ice. Ice thickness in Antarctica averages 2.1 km. If all the ice in Antarctica melted, sea levels around the world would rise by 61 meters.
Fortunately, this will not happen in the near future.
Several fun facts About the North and South Pole:
1. There is an annual tradition at Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole. After the last food plane leaves, the researchers watch two horror films: The Thing (about an alien creature that kills the inhabitants of a polar station in Antarctica) and The Shining (about a writer who stays in an empty remote hotel in winter)
2. The Arctic Tern bird makes a record flight from the Arctic to Antarctica every year, flying over 70,000 km.
3. Kaffeklubben Island - a small island in the north of Greenland is considered to be the piece of land that is closest to the North Pole, 707 km from it.
In the Vkontaktovskaya group NORDAVIA - Regional Airlines posted a message: Quote:
Most people took it as an April Fool's joke. Yes, maybe the administrators of the group themselves created this message as a banter. Although, someone believed, deciding that flights were planned as far as the North Pole itself. But that's not the point. It turns out that people don't know that there really are flights to the Arctic? After all, what is included in the Arctic region of Russia: The Arctic zone of Russia is a part of the Arctic, which is under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The structure of the Arctic zone of Russia includes such territories of the subjects of the Russian Federation as the Kola, Lovozersky, Pechenga regions, the closed administrative-territorial formations of Zaozersk, Ostrovnoy, Skalisty, Snezhnogorsk, cities. Polyarny and Severomorsk of the Murmansk region, Murmansk; Belomorsky district of the Republic of Karelia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug; Mezensky, Leshukonsky, Onega, Pinezhsky, Primorsky, Solovetsky districts, Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, Arkhangelsk; Vorkuta, Republic of Komi; Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug; Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug; Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory; Allaikhovsky, Abysky, Bulunsky, Verkhnekolymsky, Nizhnekolymsky, Oleneksky, Ust-Yansky, Gorny uluses of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); Chukotka Autonomous District; Olyutorsky district of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. Okay, Vorkuta, Naryan-Mar ... But for example, to Amderma, Tiksi, Anadyr - passenger planes fly only this way, and this is the same as the Arctic, without any there. Do people not know about this? Or does the Arctic consider only the North Pole, but the FJL with Wrangel, Taimyr and Novaya Zemlya? Or maybe it is necessary to directly compose "tourist products" and announce "here is an opportunity for you to fly to the Arctic" so that people get it?New flight: Murmansk - Arktika - Arkhangelsk. Currently, tour operators and government officials are actively discussing the development of Arctic tourism. In particular, a completely new route is being discussed - tourists arrive in Murmansk, from where they go to the expanses of the Russian Arctic, and end their journey in Arkhangelsk. We believe that this direction of tourism is very promising, and therefore we carried out a set of works to study the capabilities of the Boeing 737 aircraft in terms of landing on the Arctic ice. There is a successful experience in the world of such operation of aircraft of this type, on the basis of which we made a decision on the possibility of such flights. The north is perhaps the most underestimated region by tourists. It is full of majestic beauty, tranquility and grace. At the same time, its effective development has always been associated with aviation, and its modern development made flights over the Arctic as comfortable and safe as in other parts of our planet. In the near future we will complete all agreements with tour operators, and the new product will be offered to potential consumers. Explore the beauty of the North with us!
| Antarctica | Arctic |
 |
|
| Antarctica is a continent (land) surrounded by an ocean | The Arctic is an ocean (ice) surrounded by continents (land) |
| Sea ice sheet of the Southern Ocean - 18.83 million square kilometers | Arctic ice cover - 14.52 million square kilometers |
| The area of Antarctica within the specified limits, including the mainland Antarctica (14 million km²), is approximately 52.5 million km² | The area of the Arctic is about 27 million km² |
| The length of the coastline is slightly more than 30 km | The length of the coastline of the Arctic Basin is 45,389 km |
| The ice was formed from precipitation many years ago and is practically not renewed. | In the Arctic, ice is formed from sea water and, unlike the Antarctic, is updated throughout the year. |
Despite the fact that they are both located at the "ends of the earth", the Arctic and Antarctic Pole differ in many ways. The Arctic, also known as the North Pole, is a vast, ice-covered ocean surrounded by land. The ice here is massive, its thickness varies from a few centimeters to more than two meters, under the ice there are masses of water up to a kilometer and a half deep and with a temperature just above the freezing point. The ice surface of the Arctic Ocean is quite thin and can be easily overcome by icebreakers, especially in summer period when the ice area is at its minimum. Since glaciers are constantly on the move, there is no actual marking of 90 degrees north latitude.
In contrast to the Arctic, the Antarctic is a land surrounded by an ocean. The height of the glaciers here reaches 4700 meters in thickness, and they cover 98-99% of the land of the entire Antarctic continent. Almost 85% of the entire ice cover of the earth is concentrated here. Unlike the North
The South Pole has a special mark - a copper pole with an engraved tablet.
Since the Arctic and Antarctic are separated by a huge belt of warm waters, there is a big difference between them in the world of flora and fauna, and all because they developed independently of each other. For example, polar bears are found only in the Arctic, and penguins only in the Antarctic. There are many species of land mammals in the north because these animals have been able to migrate across the long stretches of land surrounding the Arctic. Thanks to relatively warm summers, animals here have a chance to survive. Some of the forty species of Arctic land mammals migrate south, where winters are much colder. On the other hand, Antarctica is separated from neighboring landmasses by the Southern Ocean. The largest of the local living creatures is the midge, whose length is 1 mm. The Southern Ocean is extremely fertile, and is an important habitat for sea birds and mammals.
Sea ice can take many forms, as seen in this Arctic aerial photograph. Sea ice of various thicknesses is shown here. From thin, almost transparent layers to old, thick ice covered with snow
Millions of people in different countries have read, are reading, re-reading the wonderful books of Yakov Isidorovitch Perelman "Entertaining physics", "Entertaining astronomy", "Entertaining arithmetic", - algebra, - geometry, - mechanics ... The word "entertaining" in combination with the names different sciences here is not just a title, it is a special literary genre. Perelman was one of the founders of entertaining science and the creator of the genre of scientific and entertaining literature. He possessed an amazing gift about complex natural phenomena, about dry scientific laws to tell simply, easily, fun, excitingly interesting and at the same time absolutely scientifically reliable. All his books are written this way - and there are more than 100 of them and 18 more textbooks - a whole library. These are books that grab the reader's attention from the very first lines, make you wonder what is hidden in the most ordinary things and phenomena, and most importantly, teach you to think.
Perelman is not only the author of books. He was an excellent teacher, a brilliant lecturer, and also the creator of the world's first House entertaining science. This truly unique cultural and educational institution, something like the Kunstkamera of Entertaining Sciences, was opened in Leningrad in 1935 on the idea and with the direct participation of Yakov Isidorovich. 350 large and several hundred small exhibits - devices, operating models became the material embodiment of what is described in his books. All the exhibits of the House of Entertaining Science could not only be touched, but examined, turned in hands, launched, even broken... hard years war, in besieged Leningrad, Perelman, hungry, under shelling, walked across the city to where he lectured to army and naval intelligence officers. He taught them to orientate themselves on the ground and to determine distances to the target without any instruments... We offer readers the text of a talk on physical geography. Yakov Isidorovich prepared this conversation for a radio broadcast, which sounded at the end of 1937. After that, neither during the life of the author, nor after his death (Ya. I. Perelman died of starvation in besieged Leningrad March 1942) this material was not published.
Constellation Ursa Major in the old "Star Atlas" by Jan Hevelius.
For many hundreds of kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle of the European part of Russia, there is an area that geographers call the Bolshezemelskaya tundra.
Astronomy enthusiasts near a refractor telescope on a summer playground in the garden of the House of Entertaining Science. 1939
The four points within the borders of the Arctic are called the poles.
Yakov Isidorovich Perelman is a student at the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute. 1907
Let's start our conversation with an explanation of the very name of the Arctic. It comes from the Greek word "arktos", meaning "bear". It should not be thought, however, that the ancients so called this country because of the polar bears found there. The bear, which gave the Arctic its name, does not live on any land, but adorns the northern starry sky. It's about about the famous seven-star Ursa Major, which circles in the sky of the Arctic, never descending under the horizon. The name of the Arctic comes from this celestial bear.
What area is designated by this name? Many believe that the Arctic is bounded by the Arctic Circle; in other words, they think that the Arctic and the cold belt northern hemisphere- same. This, however, is not true. The Arctic boundary does not coincide with the 66.5 degree parallel; it follows the line separating the forest region from the tundra region, and, consequently, the position of the Arctic border is not determined astronomically (by the slope earth's axis), and climatically - air temperature. This line connects all those points where the average July temperature is plus 10 degrees on land and plus 5 degrees at sea. Therefore, the border of the Arctic is not a circle, but a bizarrely meandering curve, which deviates from the polar circle first in one direction, then in the other.
Within the Arctic there are several remarkable points that have been given the name "poles". There are four main poles in the Arctic, namely: geographic, magnetic, pole of cold and pole of inaccessibility. Contrary to popular belief, these four points in the Northern Hemisphere do not coincide, do not merge with the geographic pole, but rather widely scattered. The geographic pole is a point on the earth's surface through which the axis of rotation of the globe passes. The magnetic needle of the compass is not directed to this point, but is oriented to a point located quite far from it magnetic pole.
The Pole of Cold is the coldest place on earth. In the Northern Hemisphere, it also does not coincide with the geographic pole. There is, it turns out, a corner on the globe that is colder than the North Pole. This place is located in Eastern Siberia near the settlement of Oymyakon: the temperature in winter drops there sometimes to 69 degrees below zero. This is the pole of cold.
The right to be considered the most inaccessible point on the globe belongs, again, not to the geographical pole, but to another point, which is called the pole of inaccessibility or the ice pole. This is the central point of a solid ice massif of three million square kilometers that extends near the North geographic pole towards Alaska. The ice pole is several hundred kilometers away from the geographic one.
One of the four listed poles has strange features, namely, geographical. We will now consider some of its peculiar features.
We are accustomed to the fact that the position of each point on the earth's surface is determined by two data, two so-called geographic coordinates - longitude and latitude. The position of Leningrad, for example, is indicated as follows: longitude 30 degrees east, latitude 60 degrees north. Ost means east, in this case - east of the Greenwich meridian, taken as the initial one. Nord means north, in this case north of the equator. Both longitude and latitude can be zero. If, for example, the point is marked as follows: longitude zero, latitude 40 degrees north, then you will find it at the intersection of the prime meridian with the fortieth parallel of the Northern Hemisphere. It is easy to figure out where the point is located with coordinates: longitude zero, latitude zero; it lies on the initial (that is, zero) meridian, at the point of its intersection with the equator.
What, however, would you say about a point whose position is indicated by only one coordinate: latitude 90 degrees north? There is no mention of longitude here. But is there a place on the globe that has no longitude at all?
Yes, there is, and not even one, but two places that do not have any longitude. These unusual points are the North and south poles Earth. They have no longitude, because any longitude, whatever you like, can be attributed to them with the same right. Recall that the poles lie where all the meridians of the globe meet each other. It may be asserted, therefore, that the point of the pole belongs to every meridian of the globe, and that, consequently, it has any longitude. Despite such apparent uncertainty, the coordinate - latitude 90 degrees north - speaks of a strictly defined point - one that is 90 degrees north from the equator; there is only one such point - the geographic North Pole.
In connection with the absence of longitude, there is another, no less strange feature of the geographic pole: the uncertainty of the time of day. When the clock in Moscow shows noon, what time do you think it is at the North Pole? It would seem that since the pole lies on the same meridian with Moscow, then the clocks at these points should show the same time. However, this is not a solution to the problem, because the meridians of Leningrad, Tomsk, Vladivostok, New York, Madrid - in general, any city that comes to mind also pass through the geographical pole. Every point on the globe has the right to claim that the time of day is calculated at the geographical poles by its clock. What time should a traveler stay at the Pole? He is free to choose the time of any meridian: the one on which the capital of his native country lies, or - if it turns out to be technically more convenient - the Greenwich meridian as the starting point, or the meridian of some other point ...
Here is another question, the answer to which may sound unexpected: in which direction of the horizon are the ends of the arrows of a magnetic compass placed at the North Pole directed?
The magnetic needle is always directed with one end to the nearest magnetic pole of the Earth, and the other end, of course, in the opposite direction. But the magnetic poles of the Earth, as already mentioned, do not coincide with the geographic ones. This means that one end of the magnetic needle installed at the North Geographic Pole should be directed away from it. Wherever he "looks", he certainly faces south, because there is no other direction from the North Pole: after all, the North Pole is the northernmost point of the globe, and everything around it is located in the south. In which direction does the other end of the magnetic needle "look"? It would seem to the north, since it is directed just in the opposite direction of the horizon. But this is the peculiarity of the North Pole, that in all directions from it lies the same side of the horizon - the south. Therefore, the other end of the magnetic needle is also directed to the south. We have come to an unusual but indisputable fact: both opposite ends of the compass needle at the North Pole point south!
There is a comic story by Kozma Prutkov about a Turk who allegedly once found himself in the "most eastern country": "And the east is ahead and the east is from the sides. And the west? any, barely moving in the distance?
Not true! And behind the east! In short - everywhere and everywhere there is one endless east," the author writes.
Such a country, which is surrounded on all sides by the east, of course, cannot exist. But - as you have just seen - there is a place on the globe, which is surrounded by the south from everywhere: "one endless south" stretches in all directions from this place. And there is another point on our planet, surrounded on all sides by the north. You guess, no doubt, what this point is: the South Geographic Pole.
Let's move on to other features of the pole. What do you think: which of the inhabitants of the globe was closest to its center?
As you think about this question, you will probably think of those miners in the deepest mines of the world who do their hard work more than two kilometers closer to the center of the Earth than their comrades on the surface. However, they are not destined to be considered people who, more than anyone else, approached the center of our planet. This honor does not belong to the American explorer of the deep sea, William Biyba, who plunged in his "bathysphere" almost a whole kilometer under the water surface of the ocean. The right to be considered people who have advanced closest to the center of the globe undoubtedly remains with those who set foot on the point of the North Pole. They approached the earth's center a good ten kilometers more than a significant part of humanity. Why? Because our planet does not have a strictly spherical shape, but is "flattened" near the poles and somewhat "bloated" near the equator. The radius drawn from the center of the Earth to the pole is 21 kilometers shorter than the radius drawn to any point on the equator - if, of course, both points are taken at the same height above sea level. Let us add to this that the South Pole is occupied by a high mainland, while at the North Pole the sea extends; therefore, a person who is at the North Pole is closer to the center of the globe than one who is at the South.
The next question is: where on the earth's surface do things weigh the most?
Things weigh the most at the North Pole. This happens for two reasons. The first is the one that we have just talked about, namely, the oblateness of the Earth at the poles. The second reason is the rotation of our planet. As a result of the so-called centrifugal effect, which occurs with any rotation, things on the earth's surface press on their supports the weaker, the faster they move along a circular path; it is easy to see that in places far from the poles, points on the earth's surface run every second a longer arc than in places close to the poles. The heaviest things should be at those points that do not describe a circle at all, that is, at the poles - especially at the North: remember that a hill extends over the South Pole, and with distance from the center of the Earth, gravity weakens.
Due to the combined action of these two causes, each thing at the North Pole weighs more than at the equator, about half a percent. A product weighing a ton at the equator would add 5 kilograms in weight if it were delivered to the North Pole. When carrying things to the pole from other latitudes, the weight gain is less; however, for large loads, it can still be expressed in impressive numbers. A ship weighing 20,000 tons with cargo in the middle latitudes would add 50 tons in weight if it could reach the North Pole. An airplane with a flight weight of 24 tons in Moscow would become 50 kilograms heavier when it landed on the North Pole. It is possible to detect such increases, but only with the help of spring balances, because lever weights are also made correspondingly heavier on balances.
The last paradox that we will consider is this: where on the globe does the shadow of an object have the same length around the clock?
Such unusual shadows are cast by a pole erected at the geographic pole. The height of the Sun in the sky for this point does not change during the 24-hour daytime circumambulation of the celestial body in a circle. The daily path of the Sun (and any other luminary) is located there parallel to the horizon. And since the Sun does not change its height, then the shadows cast by things remain the same length for a whole day (recall that in the bright half of the year a multi-day day reigns at the poles).
In conclusion, I propose a few questions for independent decision:
1. Where on the globe can you build a house, the windows of all four walls of which would "look" to the south?
2. In what direction is the flag hoisted at the North Pole stretched in the wind?
3. Where on earth can only south winds blow?
4. Is there a place on Earth that can only be reached from the north side?
5. Why are there no "white nights" in the equatorial and mid-latitude regions?
Preview:
Arctic expedition
The purpose of the lesson: expanding students' knowledge of the Arctic as a unique region Russian Federation with extreme natural conditions habitation and development.
Tasks:
– promoting the formation of knowledge about the nature of the Arctic, the history of its research and development;
– promoting the formation of knowledge about the Arctic, its climatic features, animals and flora;
- assistance in the formation of knowledge of the tasks of modern development of the northern region;
– promoting the formation of knowledge about modern technologies research and development of the Arctic;
– promoting the formation of an understanding of the significance and value of the Arctic in its geopolitical context;
– promoting the formation of an increase in the interest of the younger generation in the regions of the Arctic, due to the importance of the strategic importance of this region;
- education of humanistic qualities of the personality of students, patriotism, social solidarity, justice, responsibility and pride in the greatness of their country
Organizing time.
There is a place on Earth where there is no time.
There, all time zones are woven into one point.
The meridians are frozen in the ice by the grain of the seed.
A streak burns on the horizon of the northern lights.
There is only one day and one night a year.
Only seals, polar bears and seagulls live there.
And mankind was able to overcome such a climate, -
The coldness of the northern snow mistress.
Only here, as nowhere else you feel the greatness
And vulnerability in cosmic terms, the Earth.
Here the planet is dressed in such a holy guise,
That people could not break it for many centuries.
I invite you today to make an unusual journey - to the Arctic, a strategic region of Russia of world importance. Within this natural and economic territory, comparable in area to major countries of the world, large deposits of various minerals and other resources have been discovered or are present, which may in the future be strategically important for the country. There is an obvious potential for the use and development of biological resources, transcontinental shipping, ecological and extreme tourism, landfills scientific research. The presence of a nuclear icebreaker fleet and nuclear submarines in this region ensures Russia's national interests in the national sector of the Arctic Ocean.If you think the Arctic is just a cold desert and a zone permafrost where not a single blade of grass grows, then you are deeply mistaken. The concept of the Arctic is much broader than our ideas about it. Despite low temperatures, there is life on the Arctic islands. The harsh living conditions in the Arctic have led to the emergence of species that are unique to this region.
And we'll start with
Quizzes "Arctic expedition",to which we are going in absentia.
1. What is the area of the Arctic?
1) 20 million km² 2) 12 million km² 3) 27 million km² The area of the Arctic is approximately 27 million km2. In other calculations, when the Arctic is limited from the south by the Arctic Circle, the area of the Arctic region is 21 million km2. ARCTIC - the region of the Earth adjacent to the North Pole and including the outskirts of the continents of Eurasia and North America, almost the entire Arctic Ocean with islands (except for the coastal islands of Norway), as well as the adjacent parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
2. How many poles are there in the Arctic?
1) 2 2) 3 3) 4
There are four poles in the Arctic: the geographic North Pole, the magnetic,pole of cold and the pole of inaccessibility
geographic poleis located in the central part of the Arctic Ocean and is a special point on our planet where the meridians and all time zones converge, so the time is not defined here. And usually polar expeditions are guided by the time accepted in their country.
The magnetic pole is a conditional point on the earth's surface at which the earth's magnetic field is directed to the surface at a right angle. The position of the magnetic pole is unstable and its coordinates are temporary and inaccurate, as it moves daily in an elliptical trajectory and shifts to the north and northwest. Since the second half of the 20th century, the pole has been moving towards Taimyr, in "calm" periods at a speed of a kilometer per year, and during periods of geomagnetic activity up to tens of kilometers per year.
There is a place on the globe that is colder than the North Pole. On the maps of meteorologists around the world, it is designated as the cold pole of the Northern Hemisphere. It is located in the Yakut village of Oymyakon, located in Eastern Siberia. The rather large remoteness of Oymyakon from the ocean and its location in high latitudes form here a sharply continental climate. In winter, the temperature in these places drops below minus 50-60 degrees. The absolute minimum at Oymyakon was recorded in February 1933 (-67.7°C). This is the coldest place on the planet, where, with such low temperatures people live all the time.
The Pole of Inaccessibility is a place of an ice massif with an area of 3 million km2, as far as possible from all the shores of the Arctic Ocean and located at the greatest distance from any land. It is located on the 170th meridian east. about 600 km from the geographic North Pole. Due to the remoteness of this point from convenient transport routes, the pole of inaccessibility is considered difficult to reach. But, despite this, in 1941, Soviet polar explorers made the first expedition to this pole on the USSR-N-169 aircraft.
3. How many sectors of state responsibility is the Arctic divided into:
1) 7 2) 3 3) 5
The Arctic is divided into five sectors of responsibility between Russia, the USA, Norway, Canada and Denmark. However, the exact border of the Arctic has not been determined. On May 2, 2014, the President of Russia signed a Decree" On the land territories of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation " (Follow the link to the official text of the order on the Kremlin website, in PDF format).
In accordance with the Decree, the Russian part of the Arctic includes:
- Murmansk region;
- Nenets Autonomous Okrug;
- Chukotka Autonomous Okrug;
- Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug;
- Municipal formation of the city district "Vorkuta" (Komi Republic);
- Territories of the Allaikhovsky ulus, the Anabar national (Dolgano-Evenk) ulus, the Bulunsky ulus, the Nizhnekolymsky district, the Ust-Yansky ulus (Republic of Sakha (Yakutia));
- Territories of the urban district of the city of Norilsk, Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) municipal district, Turukhansk district (Krasnoyarsk Territory);
- Territories municipalities"city of Arkhangelsk", "Mezensky municipal district", " New Earth", "City of Novodvinsk", "Onega municipal district", "Primorsky municipal district", "Severodvinsk" (Arkhangelsk region);
- Lands and islands located in the Arctic Ocean, some uluses of Yakutia. These geographical features have been declared a territory Soviet Union Decree of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of April 15, 1926.
4. How many people live in the Yakut village of Oymyakon, located in the Arctic?
1) 120 2) 320 3) 520
village in Oymyakonsky ulus Yakutia, on the left bank of the riverIndigirka .
Oymyakon is best known as one of the"Poles of Cold" on the planet, according to a number of parameters, the Oymyakon Valley is the most severe place on Earth, where the permanent population lives.
5. Layer, what color is the aurora closest to the ground?
1) green 2) red 3) purple
Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) - glow(luminescence ) upper layers atmospheres planets having magnetosphere , due to their interaction with charged particlessolar wind .
The aurora borealis is distinguished by a variety of colors and can shimmer in different colors. This is determined by what kind of molecule the charged particle collided with, and what is the density of the gas. So, oxygen can give both red and green, and nitrogen can give purple or blue. At heights of aurora dislocation above 150 km, red color prevails, below 120 km - violet-blue, and in the interval between them - yellow-green.
6. How many days does the polar night last at the North Pole?
1) 156 2) 167 3) 176
Polar night - a period when the Sun does not appear above the horizon for more than 24 hours (that is, more than a day).
7. In 2010, the largest iceberg was recorded in the Arctic. What was its area?
1) 60km 2) 260km 3) 420km
The largest iceberg in the Arctic with an area of about 260 km² and a thickness of up to 50 meters was recorded in 2010. It broke away from the Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland. This huge ice block was 4 times the size of Manhattan Island. There have not been such large icebergs in the Arctic since 1962, and without exaggeration it justified its name, since in Russian the word "iceberg" means ??? "ice mountain"
8. What is the name of the phenomenon, characteristic only for the Arctic, which is created as a result of the reflection of light by clouds coming from the ice cover or floating ice in polar waters?
1) ice sky 2) aurora borealis 3) ice flowers
There are many amazing things in the Arctic natural phenomena. In particular, here you can observe the so-called "ice sky" effect, which is created as a result of the reflection of light by clouds coming from the ice cover or floating ice in polar waters. By the reflection of the "ice sky", which indicates the close location of the ice, you can navigate the ocean in order to choose a path free from ice and icebergs. The reflection is especially clear with good transparency of the air, when the ice is covered with snow.
9. What is the height of small clusters of crystals, the so-called "ice flowers of the Arctic"?
1) 4cm 2) 9cm 3) 14cm
Another incredibly beautiful phenomenon in the Arctic is ice flowers. These creations of nature are nothing more than small bushes of crystals, no more than 3-4 centimeters high. Scientists have established that the emergence and growth of ice flowers is possible only on a thin, fresh layer of ice and in the presence of a large difference between the temperatures of the ice surface and air - at least 20 ° C. But, unfortunately, ice flowers are short-lived. As soon as the thickness of the ice increases, its temperature begins to approach the temperature of the air, and the flowers simply disappear.
10. Who completes the food chain of fauna in the Arctic?
1) seal 2) polar bear 3) reindeer
The white bear is the main symbol of the Arctic. Now the total number of polar bears is just over 22 thousand individuals. You can imagine that they spend half their lives in the water, swimming long distances in search of food. A polar bear can swim 80 km without rest.
Contest "Guess!"
1. How is the word "Arctic" translated from Greek?(bear)
2. A contemporary of the mammoth, who has survived to this day in the wildest places in the Arctic (musk ox)
3. Why do reindeer graze closer to the sea? (because the wind drives away blood-sucking insects)
4. Name the polar rodent that feeds on moss and grass, lives under the snow in winter (lemming)
5. Which bird breeds chicks in the midst of an arctic spring? (White goose)
6. Why are places of accumulation of birds called "bird colonies"?(there is a terrible noise and din)
7. Polar flowers that bloom very beautifully in the Arctic in spring.(Poppies.)
8. Polar plant, which is the main food of reindeer.(Lichen.)
9. One of the noisiest birds in the Arctic "bird markets"".(Guillemot.)
10. What is the name of the non-melting layer of ice that is under a thin layer of soil. (Permafrost.)
Your opinion:
The Arctic for Russia is……..
It is impossible to imagine our country without this amazing, mysterious and rich land. Each of you today understood that the territory of the Arctic is an integral part of our country. It can already be said with complete certainty that the era of large Russian Arctic projects has begun.
