Poles Apart

The name Antarctica was coined to mean "opposite to the Arctic." The climate of the two areas is very different. Antarctica is the coldest area in the world. It is about 30 degrees colder than the Arctic. The land animals and plants of the two regions are very different. For example, penguins populate Antarctica coastlines but do not exist in the Arctic. Antarctica is the storehouse of about 85 percent of the total world supply of ice. If this great volume of ice were to melt, the volume of the world oceans would increase, and sea level would rise. Extreme atmospheric changes would have to take place for this to happen.