Polar Seas
Test your knowledge…
True or False??
Penguins make delicious
polar bear food.
FALSE: Penguins live South
of the equator, polar bears
live in the Arctic.
Most of the world’s fresh
water is frozen in
Antarctica’s ice.
TRUE
Antarctica is the highest,
driest, windiest, coldest,
cleanest place on earth.
TRUE
The Arctic is frozen land
surrounded by water
FALSE: The Arctic is frozen
ocean surrounded by land.
The only direction you can
go from the South Pole is
North.
TRUE
There are candy striped
barber poles to mark both
the North and South Poles.
FALSE: Only at the South
Pole at the Amundsen-Scott
base.
There are only 6 sunrises
and 6 sunsets each year at
the Poles.
FALSE: The sun rises and
sets only once a year.
Polar Exploration

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
1909 – Robert Peary 1st to reach North
Pole
Dec. 1911 – Roald Amundsen, with 4
companions, is 1st to reach South Pole
Jan. 1912 – Robert Scott, Edward Wilson,
Birdie Bowers, Edgar Evans & Lawrence
Oates reached South Pole; they did not
survive the return journey




1929 – Richard Byrd 1st to fly over the
South Pole
1920 – Amundsen dies in air ship
rescue at North Pole
1955 – Admiral Byrd establishes 8
research stations at South Pole
1958 – Captain Anderson sails under
Arctic Ocean – Alaska to Greenland
Comparing Polar Seas
North Pole


Huge mass of ice over
Arctic ocean

Average temps:
• Winter: -30oF
• Summer: 32oF

South Pole

Average temps:
• Winter: -78oF
• Summer: 20oF
Record: -92oF


Land mass covered by ice
– extends 100s of miles
into ocean
Record: -128oF
Polar bears, pinnipeds, no
penguins

Penguins, pinnipeds
(walruses)
Arctic
Antarctic
Polar Conditions

High winds

Cold winters, cool summers

Low precipitation


Summer = 6 months of daylight
Winter = 6 months darkness



Water warmer than surrounding
land
Upwelling
Ice may completely cover or float
on sea
• Provide resting spots for marine
animals
• Floes – polar bears
• Ice bergs found at both poles
High Productivity

In summer months, phytoplankton
(diatoms) can go through unending
photosynthesis
• 24 hours daylight
• Upwelling provides nutrients

With large amounts of phytoplankton
• Zooplankton grow
• Large animals migrate to feed
Animal Adaptations

BLUBBER
• Insulation
• Buoyancy
• Food reserve

Penguins
• Male keeps eggs balanced on his feet
to avoid freezing
• Huddle en masse, rotate during
storms
Pinnipeds

Group of marine mammals

Paddle-shaped flippers

Blubber

Need to rest & breed on land
Seals


Largest group of
pinnipeds
Can’t rotate rear
flippers forward

Have short necks

No external ears
Sea Lions



“Eared” seals
Front flippers
rotate to support
body weight
Rear flippers
rotate forward to
walk on land
Walruses

Pair of protruding
tusks
• Use to pull up on ice


Whiskers used to
sense environment
Feed mainly on
bottom invertebrates
Antarctic


Permafrost – soil that never thaws
Great Freeze
• March
• Once temp hits -40oC, ocean freezes at
a rate of 5.75 km/minute