Both the Arctic (North Pole) and the Antarctic (South Pole) are cold because they don't get any direct sunlight. The Sun is always low on the horizon, even in the middle of summer. In winter, the Sun is so far below the horizon that it doesn't come up at all for months at a time. A misconception taught and understood by many is that the poles are in total darkness when they are tilted away from the sun. It does get dark but the darkest days occur at Winter Solstice, December 21, for the North Pole and June 21st for the South Pole. Often, "night" is simply considered to be when the sun is beneath the horizon, as if twilight didn't exist. Twilight glows across the sky to some extent whenever the sun's upper rim is less than 18-degrees below the horizon. This bright twilight is like here in Utah, its the period of time that its nearly dark, but not entirely dark and drivers need to turn their headlights on. In the North Pole complete darkness sets on November 13th and ends January 29th. At this time twilight appears again. So, technically speaking total darkness at the North Pole is only 11 weeks, not 6 months. (https://www.livescience.com/32814-arctic-daylight-darkness-myth-equinox.html) Let's see if we can see what kind of twilight and darkness is at the North and South Pole..... Twilight in Norway. Sunset at the North Pole. Norway Twilight at the ceremonial South Pole. South Pole Darkness at South Pole Darkness at the South Pole and the Aurora Australis. Darkness at North Pole Nuclear Ice Breaking Ship at the North Pole during the total dark days.
Now you get a feeling for why the poles are so cold and frozen. With hardly any light hitting the top and bottom of our planet, the ice has little time to melt and continues to build up each year. Our climate may be changing, warming because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but the fact that our Sun's light is so spread out by the time it reaches the poles, guarantees the poles will remain cold for a long time.
22 Comments
Gandolf
9/29/2017 02:10:23 pm
You shall not pass
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Grace
9/29/2017 02:11:15 pm
I hate Quinn
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Ben
9/29/2017 02:11:38 pm
Hi
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Quinn
9/29/2017 02:11:53 pm
Hi
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Addi
9/29/2017 02:12:09 pm
Hola
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Sholglethorp
9/29/2017 02:12:54 pm
Llama are wierd
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Shnoglethorp
9/29/2017 02:13:22 pm
Llamas
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Adler
9/29/2017 02:14:39 pm
Hi
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Adam
9/29/2017 02:14:57 pm
I love llamas
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aidan
9/29/2017 04:03:28 pm
does anyone think it's stupid that for an entire comment they just say hi?
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Madeleine
9/30/2017 01:34:51 pm
hi
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grace
10/1/2017 02:03:10 pm
hhhhheeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! who is commenting as me and being super mean about it ! I am super angry about it and will be telling mrs. taylor. I will also be asking her to give a detention to whoever frammed me. And they will be super sorry from me and mrs. taylor. But now to what mrs. taylor posted, those pictures were so cool. The north and south pole looked so dark in some/most of those pictures. And those northern lights looked like gamma rays exploded!
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Errol
10/2/2017 07:46:49 am
I am sorry Grace that should never happen to anyone especially you I will try to find out who framed you too. And who did that ?That is super mean and almost like cyber bullying I think you should stop and say your sorry to Grace she does not deserve that and neither should anyone else who your thinking of pretending to be. Anyway Mrs Taylor that is soooooo beautiful I wish that I could just jump into the picture and see everything, I actually might want to live there when I am older!
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Ally B.
10/1/2017 04:54:36 pm
Ha ha. Love the pics Mrs.Taylor.
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Sadie
10/1/2017 05:46:11 pm
I love cats!!!
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Harmony
10/1/2017 08:44:48 pm
Hey love the blog today
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ben
10/2/2017 06:51:59 am
i have two small dogs one keeps her tongue out all the time it is so cute
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carter (gemni)
10/2/2017 07:25:03 am
hehe stark everybody knows Dr.pym (from ant man) is smarter than you!
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KENNEDY
10/2/2017 07:29:12 am
WHAT CARTER
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MaryGrace
10/2/2017 07:32:41 am
How's everyone's weekend?
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Ryley
10/2/2017 10:16:10 am
the south pole has a pole in it
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Harmony
10/2/2017 08:54:52 pm
Hey mrs Taylor good job on the blog today I loved it and the pictures
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |