by Steve Hansell

Created on: September 18, 2010   Last Updated: October 27, 2010

Antarctica and the Arctic are cold. That is something they have in common. There are parts of both places where being unprepared for the cold can be a death sentence. What is more interesting is that outside of that, they have much less in common then one would think.

The two coldest places on earth are even different in temperature, with the Arctic nearly 60 degrees warmer on average than the Antarctic.

The Arctic is an ocean and is bounded on all sides by continents. Most of the ice is sea ice and there isn't as much ice on the land. Icebergs are broken off from glaciers seasonally and are sometimes as large as many cubic yards.

The Antarctic is a continent and it's surrounded by the Southern Sea. Almost every inch of land is covered by a nearly unbroken ice sheet that can be thicker than 1.8 miles. The Antarctic carves glaciers the year round, and they are measured in cubic miles.

The Arctic, or the North Pole, has had native populations scratching out a living for more then 4000 years. The indigenous Inuit population spread through all the continents of the Arctic through hundreds of years of trade and their knowledge of traveling though the open sea.

There is no evidence of indigenous peoples living in Antarctica. The first people to see the alien landscape that makes up the South Pole in the Antarctic Circle were the people of the expedition led by James Cook, and that wasn't until 1773.

The tundra of the Arctic Circle has a defined tree line, seasonal vegetation, and some land that freezes and thaws yearly. Small mammals like rabbits and mice live in these fields, and larger mammals, like foxes and wolves, prey on them. Grizzly bears and polar bears who live in the Arctic  live on the larger land animals, like moose and deer, as well as sea mammals that call the Arctic home. There is teeming sea life including whales, seals, and other sea mammals.

By contrast, there are no land mammals in the Antarctic. There is no way for them to feed in the frozen desert of the South Pole. There are some sea mammals that use the shores of Antarctica, and the ocean is teeming with life including whales, seals, and sea mammals.

Today in the Arctic there are millions of people living and making a living near the North Pole. The natural resources that are available from the Arctic are being harvested and are a part of the economic landscape. The incredible beauty of the Arctic's natural wonders are a destination to see all of the mammals and sea creatures abundant in the region and the natural beauty of millions of years of freezing and thawing that created the landscape.

In the Antarctic, there are very few humans, and all of them are at scientific bases studying the coldest places on earth. If there are natural resources to exploit, they are buried so deeply under the ice that they can’t be reached. The hardiest of tourists have the opportunity to see the landscape of the Antarctic. Seals and other sea mammals call Antarctica home, and live along the beautiful coastal areas where the ice meets the sea.

Because of its inaccessibility, no stories have been handed down through the years about the Antarctic. There aren't tales of adventure or magic associated with Antarctica. By contrast, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole. There are thousands of other stories that are culturally significant to each of the cultures that touch the Arctic Circle and have been handed down through thousands of years.

Though both beautiful, mysterious, and certainly cold, the biggest difference between the North and South Poles is how humans have interacted with them through our history.

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