Exploration of the Poles of the Earth
McMurdo Station in Antarctica, Crary Lab center left, slope of Ob Hill in background. Photo taken in November 2003.
Click on image for full size (20 Kb)
Image has been released into public domain (found on wikipedia.org).
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Polar exploration includes the physical exploration of the Arctic and the Antarctica. The Arctic is the area around the Earth's north pole and includes parts of Canada, Greenland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Arctic Ocean. In general, areas on Earth above the latitude of 66o33' N are considered part of the Arctic region (this line of latitude is often referred to as the Arctic circle). Antarctica is a bit more easily characterized as the southernmost continent or everything south of the Antarctic circle (66o33' S in latitude).
Humankind has always been driven to explore the unknown. Because of their extreme weather and dangerous oceans to cross, historically, the polar regions of the Earth proved to be hard places to reach. Though exploration of these regions has been going on since B.C. times, it wasn't until the last 100 years that many remote places were reached. Obviously, much exploration and study is yet to be done as permanent living stations and expeditions continue into the 21st century.
Please choose any of the following links to explore more yourself!
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Exploration of Both Poles - In Much Detail!
Polar Exploration - From Wikipedia
The History of Early Polar Exploration - streaming RealVideo (11 min. 48 sec.) from NSF
Exploration of the Poles of the Earth
McMurdo Station in Antarctica, Crary Lab center left, slope of Ob Hill in background. Photo taken in November 2003.
Click on image for full size (20 Kb)
Image has been released into public domain (found on wikipedia.org).
|
Polar exploration includes the physical exploration of the Arctic and the Antarctica. The Arctic is the area around the Earth's north pole and includes parts of Canada, Greenland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Arctic Ocean. Antarctica is the southernmost continent or the area around the south pole.
Humans have always been driven to explore the unknown. Because of their extreme weather and dangerous oceans to cross, the polar regions of the Earth proved to be hard places to reach. Though exploration of these regions has been going on since B.C. times, it wasn't until the last 100 years that many remote places were reached. Obviously, much exploration and study is yet to be done as permanent living stations and expeditions continue into the 21st century.
Please choose any of the following links to explore more yourself!
|
Exploration of Both Poles - In Much Detail!
Polar Exploration - From Wikipedia
The History of Early Polar Exploration - streaming RealVideo (11 min. 48 sec.) from NSF
Exploring the Poles
This is a photo of McMurdo station in Antarctica. Sure is snowy there!
Click on image for full size (20 Kb)
Image has been released into public domain (found on wikipedia.org).
|
Polar exploration includes the exploration of the Arctic and the Antarctic. The Arctic is the area around the Earth's north pole. Antarctica is a continent that surrounds the South Pole.
When you think of exploring, you probably think of exploring a cave or exploring the deep ocean or exploring outer space. Humans have always wanted to explore to find out about things that weren't known!
In the past, many people wanted to explore the poles of the Earth to see what was there. These are hard places to get to because the weather is so cold and windy and because the oceans surrounding such places are not easy to cross. Much more exploration of the poles will happen in the future. Would you want to join such an group of explorers? Take a look at the links below to learn more:
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Exploration of Both Poles - In Much Detail!
Polar Exploration - From Wikipedia
The History of Early Polar Exploration - streaming RealVideo (11 min. 48 sec.) from NSF
Page created December 20, 2006 by Jennifer Bergman.
Last modified June 18, 2007 by Lisa Gardiner.
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