THE FRIGID ZONE

Anurupa Roy
5-A

Contents
Frigid Zone................................................................................................................. 3
Climate of the Frigid Zone.......................................................................................... 3
The Midnight Sun or Polar Day and Polar Nights.....................................................4
Aurora..................................................................................................................... 5
The Flora and Fauna of Polar Regions.........................................................................6
Flora of the Arctic.................................................................................................... 7
Flora of the Antarctic............................................................................................... 8
Fauna of the Arctic.................................................................................................. 9
Fauna of the Antarctic........................................................................................... 10
Human Habitation at the Polar Regions....................................................................12
Food...................................................................................................................... 12
House.................................................................................................................... 13
Clothing................................................................................................................. 13

Frigid Zone
The zone on Earth which is covered with ice and snow throughout
the year is known as the Frigid
Zone.
This zone or region is located
between the Arctic Circle and the
North Pole and the Antarctic Circle
and the South Pole. It also includes
the Arctic Ocean and the southern
seas.
The North Frigid Zone includes
Greenland, Alaska and northern
parts of countries like Canada,
Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
Frigid
Zone

The South Frigid Zone includes mainly the continent of Antarctica.

Climate of the Frigid Zone

The Polar Regions have a very cold, windy and dry climate.
Because of the lack of rain and extreme low temperatures the
Arctic and Antarctic are considered the world's largest cold
deserts.

The Polar Regions receive less direct sunlight because of the

Earths tilt on its axis, which causes ice and
snow
throughout the year.

Because
of this
ice
much
of
the
heat
received from the sun is reflected off making the Polar Regions
colder still.
The temperatures are similar between the Arctic and Antarctic.
The temperatures in the Arctic are different depending on the
location. In the Arctic temperatures average 30 to 40 C in the
winters and in the summer the temperatures reach 12 C.
In the Antarctic there is less temperature variations. Here
temperatures average 50 C in the winters and in the summer
the temperatures reach 15 C.

The Midnight Sun or Polar Day and Polar Nights

The midnight sun (or Polar Day) is a natural phenomenon that

happens in the summer months
in the Polar Regions, when the
sun remains visible at the local
midnight and never sets for
days,
weeks
or
months
depending on a places distance
a places from the geographic
poles. The extreme places are
the poles where the sun can be
continuously visible for a half year period.
The polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than
24 hours during the winter season. At the poles this is a half year
period.
The reason for both the above phenomenon is the tilt of the Earth
on its axis.

Aurora
An aurora also referred to as polar light, is a natural light display
in
the
sky,
predominantly seen in
the
Arctic
and
Antarctic
regions.
Auroras
are
produced when
swarms
of
small
particles from the Sun
(also
called
Solar
Wind) come and hit the Earths magnetic field at the polar region.

In northern pole, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or

the northern lights) and its southern counterpart, the aurora
australis (or the southern lights), is identical to the aurora
borealis. It
is
visible
from
high
southern
latitudes
in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand, and Australia.

Auroras also occur on other planets.

The Flora and Fauna of Polar Regions

The Polar Regions are deserts of ice and snow, swept by powerful
winds. They are among the most inhospitable places on Earth.
At the northern end of our planet lies the Arctic, made up of about
30 percent land and 70 percent ocean. In summer, the ground is
covered in the tundra vegetation that is typical of the Arctic.
Around the Earths South Pole lies Antarctica, a mountainous
continent covered in a thick sheet of ice and surrounded by the
Southern Ocean. With an average temperature of less than 57C
at its center, this very dry and windy continent is the coldest
place in the world.
The freezing waters of the polar oceans are covered in a layer of
floating ice, called pack ice. Whether they live in the oceans or on
land, the animals of the Polar Regions have adapted perfectly to
the extreme conditions in their environment.
Due to the harsh weather in the Polar Regions, there are not many
animals. The animals that do exist in the polar region are similar
between the Antarctic and Arctic regions. The animals do differ by
the temperature.
The polar oceans teem with life. In spring and summer, the pack
ice partially melts. Sunlight penetrates the water, encouraging
the growth of algae. This sudden abundance of food attracts
plankton, which in turn attract larger animals such as fish and
whales. In the winter, the cold intensifies and the layers of
floating ice fuse together again to form pack ice. Many marine
animals then migrate to warmer waters in search of food.

Flora of the Arctic

The Arctic consists of desert and tundra vegetation.
The desert vegetation
consists
of
algae,
lichens, and mosses.
Lichens are the most
dominant plants. The
ground is bare, with
patchy cover of lichens
and mosses. Flowering
plants are also seen
but not as common. It
only
contains
60
species of flowering plants. The Arctic tundra vegetation also
consist shrubs and grasses as well. The amount of vegetation in
the tundra consists on how much sun, or snow cover is in the
area. The vegetation in this area may grow as tall as 50 cm.
In the southern part of
the Arctic there tend to
be
more
shrubs
whereas the northern
parts there is less plant
cover. In wet areas of
the tundra there are
tussock grasses and
cotton
grasses.
In
moist areas there are
short grasses and trees
like
willows,
and
birches.

Flora of the Antarctic

The continent of Antarctica has been too cold and dry to support
virtually
any plants for
millions of years.
The
chilling
temperature, lack of
sunlight, little rainfall,
inferior soil quality and
lack
of
moisture
account, due to the
inability of the plants to
absorb water available
in the form of ice
accounts for the scanty
vegetation.
The Antarctic vegetation consists of algae or lichens and some
bacteria and fungi. Mosses and lichens dominate the vegetation.
The algae and lichens grow where there is moisture, and they
hide in cracks to be protected from the freezing wind. The
dominate grassland is the tussock. These grasses get to be 2m
high, so they provide habitat for many mammals. Of the
14,000,000 km2 of land that makes up Antarctic, less than 2% of it
does not have snow or ice.
One example of a type of vegetation is crustose lichen. These
lichens are found in moist areas that are hidden from wind. They
hide on the surface of rocks in the cracks. They survive off the
water that melts from above.

Fauna of the Arctic

In the Arctic some invertebrates include spiders, mites,
mosquitoes and flies. In warmer areas of the Arctic moths,
butterflies and beetles can be found.
Some of the larger animals
that exist are arctic foxes,
wolves, rabbits, hares, polar
bears, and caribou. There
are various bird species that
have been spotted in the
Arctic. Eight species of birds
reside on the polar tundra
year round while 150 breed
in the Arctic.
One of the known birds is the
snowy owl, which has enough fat
on it to be able to survive in the
cold temperatures.

Fauna of the Antarctic

In
the
Antarctic
some
invertebrates that exist are
mites,
fleas
and
ticks.
Antarctica
is
the
only
continent that does not have
a land mammal population.
There are also no birds that
reside in Antarctica.

For animals to be able to live in the polar region they have to

have adaptations which allow them to live in the cold and windy
environments. Some of these adaptations may be to be big and
insolated, have a lot of fur, and to be darker. Also, many animals
live in groups to be able to protect themselves from the cold.
Animals also tend to maintain a high body temperature.

Smaller
invertebrates
also tend to be smaller
in Polar Regions which
help
them
conserve
energy.
Penguins are the major
land animals in the
Antarctic.
There
are
some 7 different species
of penguins living in the
Antarctic continent.
There are also many different animals that live in the sea water
near Polar Regions.

Seals, Whales, Antarctic silverfish are some examples of sea

animals that live in Antarctica.

Human Habitation at the Polar Regions

There are many native groups of people who live around the
Arctic. There are representatives of many different groups such as
the Inuit, Chukchi, Sami, Yupik, Inupiat and others. The presence
of humans is one of the biggest differences between the two
poles. The people who live in the far north are normally nomadic
and are hunter-gatherers with the emphasis on hunting rather
than gathering, though the Sami people of Scandinavia amongst
others are reindeer herders. The Arctic Permanent population is
around 4 million.

Antarctica has never had any native people living there. The first
human expedition that successfully reached Antarctica was in the
year 1911.

Food
The Arctic tribes men were mainly hunters, and
relied heavily on the animals of the Arctic as
their main source of food. Since very little
vegetation could survive in the Arctic climate;
these people could not depend solely on plants for
food. They also froze meat to save it, and eat it
later.

House

made

of

The summer home was a tent made out of

caribou or sealskins hung off a frame
driftwood or whale rib bones.

The Inuit lived in igloos in the

winter. The igloo was made from hard
packed snow. They had knives made of
bone, and later, steel, to cut snow
blocks.

Clothing
Clothing consisted of coats, trousers, stockings,
shoes or boots. These are made of animal skins
mostly
obtained
from
Caribou.